Gentlemen, should liquefied hydrocarbon pumps be placed in the pump house or near the storage tanks?

Why hasn’t anyone commented lately?

In my humble opinion, placing it in the pump room has its advantages and disadvantages: ventilation is poor, which makes it easier to detect combustible gases in the event of leaks; moreover, it prevents direct sunlight from reaching the pump. In some areas, the summer sun is very intense, and when it shines on the pump, the thermal expansion and contraction of the fluid inside the pump can increase the pressure within it. The drawback is that leaked gas tends to accumulate, and it is easy for the concentration to reach the explosive limit when there is a leak. It is installed around the storage tank; is this mainly due to the resistance that long pipelines pose to the flow velocity of the medium, or is it because the pressure drop resulting from long pipelines leads to the formation of a two-phase flow? I have seen this type of pump installed in a semi-enclosed pump room, not far from the storage tank. These are just my personal opinions; I welcome corrections from fellow sailors.

There are both good and bad aspects to it; the question is, why doesn’t this meet the requirements of petrochemical regulations?

Pay attention: the first sentence is to meet the operating requirements of the pump. There is another sentence stating that when the storage tank is located at a high elevation, the hydrocarbon pump can be placed at a lower elevation outside the tank. Since the tank is at a high position, there is an additional gravitational force acting on the fluid (all objects are subject to gravity acting from top to bottom); this condition satisfies the pump’s requirements regarding inlet pressure and net positive suction head, allowing the pump to be installed outside the tank area. If the pump performs well, I think there’s no problem with the first diagram

This post was last edited by longxh28 on 2018-4-28 at 17:11. My personal opinion: The image shown is a typical LPG tank farm. If it are above-ground tanks, centrifugal shielded pumps are generally an option; they are placed in a pump room, about 20 meters away from the tanks. This is how most liquid handling stations operate, and there are no issues with this approach in practice. Placing it on-site is no problem at all. If the temperatures are high in summer, insulation can be applied to the liquid inlet pipe; moreover, since the tank is usually a pressure-resistant tank, the operating head pressure for the hydrocarbon pump is ensured. For underground tanks, a screw pump should be used, and it can only be placed near the tank in the tank area; otherwise, it may not be able to operate.