There’s a lot of oil underground in the device – how to deal with it!
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A recent inspection revealed that the fire water wells were filled with oil. After using diaphragm pumps to remove the oil, it was found that cracks in the walls of the wells were causing oil to seep out. We have now dug holes in nearby areas to locate the leaks, and found large amounts of oil in the lower layers. It’s very difficult to identify the source of the leak. We use pipelines for both light and heavy oil, and the level of oily wastewater in the wells is also quite high. From a safety perspective, does anyone have any good methods for identifying and addressing this issue?
1. Don’t you have flowcharts for your underground oil pipelines and underground sewage pipelines? Equipment managers should have diagrams, especially for underground sewage lines. 2. After obtaining the flowchart, you can contact a pipeline inspection company; there are currently devices available for detecting leaks in underground pipelines, which can be used to identify such issues. If not, then carry out manual excavation to locate the leak; based on what you’ve described, the leak site should not be far away. Excavation work can only be carried out manually; be careful not to use devices such as crossheads that may generate sparks during the excavation process. In addition, there are permits for working in confined spaces, as well as relevant escape and first-aid facilities. It is recommended to use long-tube air respirators when digging manually in pits. 3. Once the leakage point is identified, if it involves lines carrying light or heavy crude oil, it is relatively easy to handle: steam cleaning is used, the sections connected to the system are isolated using blind flanges, which are then locked and tagged; furthermore, a hot work permit must be obtained – this is a key risk that needs to be carefully managed. Based on your description, I suspect it might be a light to moderate oil-contaminated sewage line, as oil-containing sewage systems generally do not accumulate that much oil; usually, they are of the type with a water seal, and it is possible to determine whether there is oil present by conducting a visual inspection of the well.