HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
33
automation
The
power of
D
riving past or flying over most tank farms leaves a
sense of quiet and stability, with all the white
storage tanks standing in rows. A casual observer is
probably not aware of the activity within those
pipes and tanks, and the critical role of the product
movement they control in the global hydrocarbon supply
chain (Figure 1). Those facilities are important for a variety
of reasons:
n
From wellhead to final customer, product custody can
change numerous times. The fuel in a car’s gas tank or
the gas heating a home has likely moved great
distances, gone through many processing steps, and
had multiple owners during its journey.
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The product may have been moved via pipeline,
tanker, vessel, railcar, truck or a combination of those.
Moving it from one transport mechanism to another
can be a complex process.
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The products in those tanks are fuels, and certainly
flammable and potentially explosive, so safety has to
be paramount at all times.
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Whether in storage or moving from one transport
mechanism to another, there is always potential for
product contamination or loss. Fuels are valuable, but
their worth can be diminished very easily due to
improper handling.
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A terminal able to operate efficiently and effectively
adds value to the chain, but problems can just as easily
hurt profitability. Product spills invite catastrophe, so
operators have to be constantly vigilant to avoid
causing an environmental incident.
With all these factors, performing terminal operations
manually, or even partially automated, is very risky as it
depends on near perfect execution by human operators.
Given the amount of money constantly in play as products
move from transport to tank and back again, automating all
or part of a terminal’s operations will improve profitability,
and help avoid incidents like these.
Avoiding health and safety incidents
Unfortunately, transfer and storage facilities have had their
share of incidents, reminding companies and communities
of the potential dangers. The following are three examples
from the last 10 years:
Buncefield oil storage depot
In December 2005, the Buncefield oil storage depot near
London, England, was transferring unleaded gasoline from a
supply pipeline into a storage tank. This very routine
Murali Krishnan T, Emerson Process Management, Asia Pacific, and Christopher Amstutz,
Emerson Process Management, USA,
explain how demands for greater throughput, higher
reliability and improved safety can be met by automating manual systems and practices.
