Question: In chemical plants, are there many large tanks that operate at pressures higher than 1 MPa? What’s inside them?

This question of yours is really hard to answer

There are still quite a few of these. In terms of storage and transportation, the most common tanks are spherical tanks for storing liquefied gas and horizontal tanks for storing propylene, and the factory has some of these. There are many various intermediate tanks, liquid separation tanks, and buffer tanks in production units, especially in high-pressure applications such as hydrogenation. The plant has never had a reliable instrument for measuring the liquid level in its spherical tanks. Over a decade ago, radar was used when it was installed in the plant; later, some manufacturers tried external ultrasonic sensors for a few months before switching to magnetic floats. Eventually, Enraf’s servos were used. Recently, these servos started to fail, so Rosemount’s pressure transducers were used for experiments – they were installed near the water cutters at the bottom of the spherical tank. By calculating the difference between the pressure at the top and that at the bottom, experiments were conducted for two months. It happened to be winter during that time, and when the temperature dropped to around minus 5 or 6 degrees, the pressure transducers at the bottom began to give erratic readings. It’s not clear whether this was due to water inside the pressure conduit or vaporization of liquefied gas; no further investigation was carried out. One technician was responsible for this setup, and he told the management that this method wasn’t effective and that modifications were needed. A few days ago, during a routine inspection, he suggested using magnetostrictive level gauges, but since the spherical tank is 10 to 20 meters tall, it’s not clear how he plans to install them.

Thanks, buddy! May I ask, for these spherical tanks and horizontal tanks, what is the maximum gas phase pressure inside the tanks, in MPa?

There are many that are 10 to 20 meters in length; all our measurement towers use this type of level gauge, with a range of 20 meters

Is \"King of Humor\" a riddle?

One of the canteens in that large chemical plant has gas distribution tanks – there are quite a few of them, used for storing gas, or LPG; it’s mainly propane, a type of liquefied hydrocarbon. Haha, thank you – just call me Lei Feng

3000 cubic meter liquid ammonia spherical tank, with a working pressure of 1.6 MPa

I’m not sure exactly how much the pressure is; it should be over 2 megapascals. If I have time tomorrow, I’ll go and check that spherical tank area.

Servo level gauges should be suitable for spherical tanks; I have used them for clients and the results have been good. The key is to choose the right model, and the technicians performing the installation must be skilled at adjusting them. When operating under pressure, a shut-off valve should be installed downstream of the servo device. Radar-based level gauges, on the other hand, may not be very suitable for spherical tanks. Magnetic levitation level gauges can be installed during the construction of spherical tanks, but once feeding begins, it’s usually not possible to carry out any welding work on site. With tanks of this size, it’s also difficult to set up scaffolding, so it’s better to use servo level gauges. I recommend using E+H products