According to the petrochemical regulations, what are plant storage tanks and groups of plant storage tanks? Must a plant storage tank be just one tank with no more than one, while a group of plant storage tanks must consist of multiple tanks?
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According to the petrochemical regulations, what are considered plant storage tanks and plant storage tank groups? Is a Class A storage tank with a volume of less than 1,000 cubic meters, located within one fire dike, classified as a plant storage tank? And if multiple Class A storage tanks are located within one fire dike, regardless of their volume, do they all have to be considered as a plant storage tank group? In other words, can the storage tank for the facility be only one tank, with no more than one, while the set of storage tanks for the facility must consist of more than one tank?
Good question, what does the specification say?
Provision note: As a storage tank for the installation, the total volume of liquefied hydrocarbon storage tanks is less than or equal to 100 m3； When the total volume of combustible gas or combustible liquid storage tanks is less than or equal to 1000 m3, they can be located within the facility. When the storage tanks of the facility exceed the aforementioned total volume, and the liquefied hydrocarbon tanks are between 100 m3 and 500 m3, while the combustible gas tanks or combustible liquid tanks are between 1000 m3 and 5000 m3, they can be arranged collectively at the edge of the facility to form a group of storage tanks for that facility. However, the limitation on the volume of a single tank for liquefied hydrocarbons and flammable liquids is primarily aimed at ensuring safety and facilitating production management. The plant storage tank group is part of the plant. With the increase in the size of the facility, the total volume of the liquefied hydrocarbon storage tanks located at the periphery of the facility has increased from 300 m3 to 500 m3, while the volume of the flammable liquid tanks has increased from 3000 m3 to 5000 m3. Given that there are already restrictions on the total volume of the plant’s tank farm, the dedicated pumps for this tank farm only need to be installed outside the fire dike, and the fire separation distance required between them and the plant’s tanks need not comply with the provisions of clause 5.3.5.
According to Petrochemical Code 2.0.18, storage tanks within a process plant refer to those tanks (groups) that are not directly involved in the chemical processing during normal operation of the plant; however, they are installed there due to process requirements, in order to ensure balanced production, facilitate product quality testing, or support other initial operations.
The capacity of the device’s storage tank and the fire protection spacing are specified in Table 5.2.1 of the Petrochemical Regulations