26 things you must know when installing storage tanks!

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1. The grouping of tank areas shall fully meet the requirements and specifications of the overall plant process flow and the overall layout of the plant’s storage areas. 2. The tank area should generally be arranged as a separate zone. However, it can be located in the same block as the associated oil pump house, so as to shorten the length of pipelines between the storage tanks and the pump house, reduce the frictional losses in those pipelines, which is beneficial for the pumping operation of the pumps. It also facilitates the routing of control instrument cables from the tank area to the control room (the operator’s duty room and the tank area instrument control room are usually part of the same building as the pump house), making it easier for operators to carry out routine inspections. 3. Frozen or unfrozen LPG storage tanks should be installed in areas with good ventilation and drainage. 4. When determining the elevation of the foundation surface for the tank area, it is necessary to fully meet the requirements regarding the net suction head of the pumps located in the pump house associated with it. 5. The height from the lowest point of the spherical tank to the ground must be at least 1.5 m in order to maintain good ventilation around the tank. For spherical tanks with bottom outlets, this height must be considered together with the pump’s net positive suction head (NPSH) before making a decision. 6. The locations of the raw material storage areas and the intermediate raw material storage areas should be as close as possible to the associated production units. Furthermore, the design ground elevation of the tank area should be as high as or greater than the design ground elevation within the production units. This is to minimize the length of the inlet pipeline from the tank area to the raw material pump of the production unit, reduce frictional losses, and ensure that the raw material pump has sufficient net suction head to avoid cavitation, thus guaranteeing the safe and reliable continuous operation of the production unit. It is also intended to avoid installing the raw material pump outside the production unit whenever possible. 7. The location of the finished product tank area should be as close as possible to the oil loading facilities. If the oil is transported via pipelines, the finished product tank area should be located as near as possible to the first station of those pipelines, in order to meet the requirements for transporting the finished products promptly. 8. The chemical reagent storage tank area should be located near the unloading facilities, and it should be situated in the same area as the chemical reagent transfer pump room. If the chemical agents are transported into the plant via tank trucks, the storage areas for these chemicals, the pump rooms, and the unloading facilities can all be located in the same area, as is the case with alkalis, acids, ammonia, etc. 9. Additive storage areas should be located near the facilities that use those additives, such as those for lubricants. 10. The oil for startup and the sludge oil tank areas should be located near the production units where sludge oil can be processed, such as atmospheric distillation units and catalytic units, so that the recovered sludge oil can be collected together and processed for regeneration in a timely manner. 11. Petrochemical enterprises, as well as most oil depots and other enterprise-affiliated oil storage facilities, use above-ground steel storage tanks. Compared with underground and semi-underground steel tanks, they have advantages such as less land occupation, lower investment, easier construction, and more convenient and flexible operation and maintenance. 12. Above-ground storage tanks cannot be placed in the same group as semi-underground or underground storage tanks. 13. Storage tanks for toxic liquids must not be placed in the same group as storage tanks for non-toxic liquids. 14. Storage tanks for highly corrosive liquids should not be placed in the same group as storage tanks for other liquids. 15. For storage tanks arranged in a single row, when the platforms are installed separately, it is advisable to align their centerlines; when the platforms are installed together, it is preferable to arrange them tangentially. 16. Storage tanks arranged along the pipe gallery can be placed on both sides of the gallery if there is no equipment above it; if there is equipment above the gallery, they should be placed on one side of the gallery. 17. The storage tank should have pipes arranged on the side close to the pipe gallery, with a maintenance area or passage on the other side. 18. In the same tank area, storage tanks for media with high viscosity and those for media with high vapor pressure should be located as close as possible to the end of the tank area that is nearest to the relevant pump rooms, in order to meet the requirements of the pump suction conditions as much as possible. 19. When there is a heavy oil purging tank in the tank area, it should be located at the end of the heavy oil pipeline so that the pipeline can be thoroughly purged. And keep the tank area clean to facilitate its operation and use. 20. For storage tanks with large inlet and outlet pipe diameters or numerous connecting pipelines, they should be located as close as possible to the inlet and outlet points of the pipeline network in the tank farm, in order to shorten the pipeline lengths and reduce costs. 21. When there are pipelines connecting the storage tanks in two rows within a tank area, the centerlines of the corresponding tanks in the two rows can be offset by 0.5–1.0 m from each other to meet the requirements for pipeline installation and to avoid cross connections between branch pipes and main pipes. 22. The elevation of the top surface (center) of the tank foundation should be higher than the designed ground elevation within the tank area; the difference in elevation should be no less than 0.5 m. It must also meet the requirements regarding the installation dimensions of the pipelines in front of the tank, as well as the requirements related to the pump’s suction height. The bottom elevation of the liquefied hydrocarbon storage tank should be determined through calculation based on the requirements for the pump suction height associated with it. 23. Between the two rows of storage tanks within a tank farm, it is typically where the tank farm piping systems and the branch pipes connecting to the tanks are located. Therefore, the clear distance between the two rows of storage tanks must also meet the requirements for the installation dimensions of the main pipelines and branch pipelines. 24. The sewage discharge pipelines in the tank area, as well as the roads for routine inspections by operators, are generally also located between two rows of storage tanks, and the necessary floor space should be provided for them. 25. For storage tanks containing acidic or alkaline materials, protective facilities such as eyewash stations and safety showers should be installed around them. 26. The drain outlets of the storage tank and the sewage drains near the pump inlet should be connected to underground pipes.