Seeking help with the selection of cover materials for buried tanks.
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Our factory has a horizontal tank with an elliptical head, used to store dimethylamine; it is a pressure vessel. Initially, it was buried due to safety distance considerations, with fine sand covering it, but this made inspections difficult. I’ve heard that there are buried tanks covered with flame-retardant resin particles – I’m not sure if that approach is feasible. I would like to ask the experts in this community about the relevant specifications and standards for buried tanks. Are there any clear requirements regarding the type of covering material? Apart from sand and soil, are there other materials that can be used as coverings? Thank you! Thank you! !
There are also those submerged in water; indeed, it’s impossible to conduct inspections on them, and the design team needs to provide a method for such inspections. But this is not easy to do; you need to dig out the device and clean and polish it thoroughly from the inside and outside. If an internal inspection is not carried out, other inspection methods must be added to ensure compliance.
If the design unit provides a solution, it must certainly not be some nonsense like “handle it in accordance with Article X, Paragraph Y of TSGXXXX”.
But to meet the safety distances, not enough consideration was given to this aspect. It’s likely that even if a design firm is consulted and a solution is proposed, it may still not satisfy the requirements of the safety regulatory authorities. In the absence of clear regulatory provisions, a stricter approach is adopted, and design standards applicable to large petrochemical plants, gas stations, etc., are used
The advice given was to dig out the sand, conduct internal inspections, and then fill it back in – it’s too troublesome