Oil and gas recovery system for the tank farm

After reading the post upstairs, I thought of a question: even our large oil storage facilities here (with a capacity of 4 million cubic meters) don’t have any oil and gas recovery systems. I’ve never understood why Is it just because of the large investment? Are there still technical reasons?

It can be done this way. However, it is important to ensure that the wiring for centralized recovery is done after the breather valve, not before it. Wiring in front of the breather valve means that all tanks are connected together, which is not in compliance with the regulations. I’ve forgotten the specific regulation; it seems to be Document No. 46.

By installing a flame arrester in between, it is possible to connect the tops of multiple chemical storage tanks together for centralized recovery of oil and gas.

Which organization do you belong to? I’m going to do some selling, ahaha!

**Notice of the State Administration of Work Safety on Further Strengthening the Safety Management of Chemical Storage Areas Anong Zongguan San [2014] No. 68 To the work safety supervision bureaus of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as relevant central state-owned enterprises: In recent years, there have been numerous incidents of leaks, fires, or explosions in chemical storage areas across China. Notable incidents include the pipeline explosion and fire at CNPC International Storage and Transportation Co., Ltd. in Dalian on July 16, 2010; the explosion and fire at the triphenyl storage area of CNPC Dalian Petrochemical Company on June 2, 2013; and the explosion of an acidic water storage tank at Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Company on June 9, 2014. These incidents had significant social impacts and revealed serious problems in some enterprises’ chemical storage areas regarding monitoring and control, management of equipment and facilities, daily operations, management of special operations, oversight of contractors, and safety design. To further strengthen the safety management of chemical storage areas and effectively prevent production safety accidents in such areas, the following measures are hereby notified: 1. Further enhance awareness of the importance of strengthening safety management in chemical storage areas. Chemical storage areas contain large quantities of various chemicals, most of which are flammable, explosive, toxic, and harmful; in the event of an accident, these can cause serious harm or threats to people’s lives and property. Relevant enterprises and safety supervision departments at all local levels must further enhance their awareness of the importance of strengthening safety measures in chemical storage areas, earnestly fulfill their primary responsibilities for ensuring safe production, carry out strict inspections and supervision, promptly identify and eliminate various potential hazards, and effectively reinforce safety efforts in chemical storage areas. II. Further strengthen the safety management of chemical tank farms (1) Further improve the monitoring and control facilities for chemical tank farms. In accordance with regulatory requirements, high and low liquid level alarms are installed for the storage tank; automatic interlocks are employed to shut off the tank’s feed valve when the liquid level is too high, and to stop material transfer when the liquid level is too low. Ensure that the alarm systems for leaks of flammable, explosive, toxic, and harmful gases are in good working condition. Emergency shut-off valves must be installed on key storage tanks such as large-scale ones, those storing liquefied gases, and highly toxic chemicals. (II) Strengthen the production and operation management of chemical tank areas. Under normal operating conditions, it is strictly prohibited to allow any space to form between the floating disk of an internal floating roof tank and the material contained within it. In special cases where operation at an extremely low liquid level is necessary, it is essential to ensure that the feed flow rate is below the specified limit when resuming feeding, in order to prevent accidents caused by static electricity. When high or low level alarms occur, immediate action must be taken. When there are fluctuations in the upstream units, it is necessary to strengthen the analysis and testing of materials entering the tank area, in order to prevent high-temperature materials or light components from entering the storage tanks and causing accidents. For tank farms with loading and unloading platforms, strict management of loading/unloading operations and vehicle operations is required to prevent illegal activities from compromising the safety of the tank farm. Strictly follow the requirements for change management to strengthen the change management in the tank farm. Suspend the use of the exhaust gas connection and recovery system for multiple chemical storage tanks immediately; it can be put into operation only after passing safety assessments. (III) Further strengthen the management of special operations within chemical tank areas. It is necessary to further standardize the management of special operations such as hot work and entry into confined spaces, as well as the management of maintenance and repair activities. The approval process for work permits must be strictly followed, risk analyses must be conducted thoroughly, isolation, displacement (steaming), and purging procedures must be carried out rigorously, and the concentration of flammable gases must be carefully monitored. When working in confined spaces, it is also essential to monitor the concentration of toxic gases and the oxygen level within those spaces. Preventive measures must be effectively implemented, and ongoing supervision of the process must be strengthened. It is strictly prohibited to use valves as a substitute for blind plates as isolation measures, and it is strictly prohibited to perform hot work on storage tanks that have not been cleaned and purged. When an emergency occurs during a task, rescuers must wear appropriate personal protective equipment and carry out rescue operations in a scientific manner. It is necessary to further strengthen the management of contractors, rigorously review their qualifications, enhance the training of their employees, and ensure proper instruction prior to work commencement as well as on-site supervision. (IV) Strengthen the management of equipment and facilities in chemical tank areas. The equipment and facilities in the chemical tank area should be regularly inspected and tested to ensure that tanks, pipelines, valves, pumps, and other equipment are in good condition. Strengthen the monitoring of corrosion in chemical storage tanks, conduct regular tank inspections, and address any corrosion-induced thinning promptly. Ensure that the safety accessories of the storage tank, as well as the lightning protection, anti-static measures, flood control facilities, and fire suppression systems are in good condition ； For storage tanks equipped with nitrogen protection systems, it is necessary to ensure that the nitrogen sealing system is in good working condition. (5) Strengthen training for personnel in chemical tank areas. Strengthen the management of storage tank areas and the training of operators to ensure they are aware of the safety risks associated with their roles as well as the operating procedures. Ensure that operators are able to use personal protective equipment and emergency protection gear correctly, and possess the skills necessary for emergency response, particularly the ability to extinguish incipient fires and to carry out scientific rescue actions in cases of poisoning or suffocation. (VI) Further strengthen source control over chemical tank areas. Conduct a design review of the storage tank area that was not designed properly, and improve the equipment and facilities in accordance with relevant standards and specifications. Flame barriers or fire dike separators shall be installed for combustible liquid storage tanks in accordance with the requirement of one dike per tank. Tank areas dealing with highly regulated hazardous chemicals must conduct hazard and operability analyses on a regular basis. (7) Further intensify the efforts to identify and rectify potential hazards in chemical storage areas. Establish and improve systems for identifying and addressing potential hazards, strengthen regular inspections, conduct comprehensive checks on such hazards on a periodic basis, and promptly rectify and eliminate them. A follow-up review was conducted on the issues identified during the special safety inspection of petroleum storage facilities and oil and gas loading/unloading terminals in petrochemical enterprises, which was carried out by the Office of the State Council Safety Committee in 2013, to ensure that all potential hazards were addressed promptly. III. Carry out targeted safety improvements for chemical tank areas **The General Administration of Work Safety has scheduled a period from July to December 2014 to conduct targeted safety improvements for chemical tank areas, ensuring that all necessary measures are implemented as soon as possible. Relevant enterprises and regions should, in accordance with the seven specific requirements set out in this notice and taking practical circumstances into account, further refine their measures and carry out systematic inspections and rectifications for each item. Enterprises must earnestly assume their primary responsibilities, complete self-inspection and rectification work by September 30, 2014, and submit a written report to the local safety regulatory authorities. All regions shall strengthen supervision and inspection of the implementation of this notice through methods such as open and secret inspections, and promptly urge enterprises to carry out rectification work earnestly. Provincial safety supervision departments shall submit a written report on the progress of the special rectification efforts in their respective regions to the **General Administration of Safety Supervision by November 30, 2014. **The General Administration of Work Safety will conduct supervision and inspection of the special rectification efforts in conjunction with the annual comprehensive inspections. **State Administration of Work Safety, July 11, 2014

This post was last edited by firemale on 2016-9-19 at 16:57. There are environmental requirements, but it seems they don’t have much effect; in our case, compliance is mandatory – those that didn’t have these requirements before must carry out modifications.

The key is to determine what type of oil you are storing. If it’s diesel, vapor recovery systems may not be necessary, but gasoline requires such systems