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Amid the myriad federal and state regulations that frame the ground rules for operating in the energy and industrial markets are those that must be met for the engineering, fabrication, construction, and maintenance of aboveground storage tanks. Equally critical and highly complex are those that call for regular cleaning, inspection, and repair.
Today, owner/operators – many with multiple facilities, and multiple tanks – face looming deadlines for compliance with regulations and need to get tanks cleaned, inspected and repaired. As such, they are looking for ways to gain greater efficiency, consistency, safety, and quality, facility to facility and tank to tank.
One solution is to choose a contractor that offers vertically integrated cleaning, inspection, and repair services, the benefits of which can be significant, among them:
- Decreased logistical challenges as a result of managing one contractor versus many;
- Better management and utilization of resources;
- Schedule optimization;
- Reduction in duplication of effort and related expenses;
- More efficient project management and communication;
- Better safety performance and productivity as a result of shared knowledge; and
- Continuity and consistency in quality, performance, and documentation across multiple project sites.
Covered by American Petroleum Institute (API) 653 and Steel Tank Institute (STI) SP001 and, in some circumstances, by the Department of Transportation (DOT), the regulations in question are designed to ensure spill prevention and the safe storage of all materials. Specifically, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure rule focuses on preventing discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines and is meant to protect public health, welfare and the environment. Yet, with the variety of storage tanks that exist, each brings its own complexities.
Safe, consistent, repeatable
Before any inspection or repair work can begin, it is imperative to ensure the safety of inspectors and other personnel who may need to enter a tank, as well as the environment in which the work is being completed. Doing so requires expertise in cleaning/decontamination to ensure all tanks are clear for entry, free from all contaminants, carcinogens and volatile vapors.
There are as many different variables as there are tanks to decontaminate and each variable poses its own specific type of challenge. In some cases, there may be multiple tanks at a single site, each different in size, shape and design. Contaminants can be in the form of vapor, liquid, solid, or all of the above, any and all of which may contain dangerous contaminates such as polychlorinated biphenyls, naturally occurring radio-active material, mercury and many other hazards.
The tank’s operational history is equally important, those that have been in uninterrupted operation for decades may not have required drawings or blueprints needed to understand flow profiles and develop proper treatment.
Tanks may be in remote rural or highly congested metropolitan areas, each offering their own logistical challenges. Regardless of location, a contractor must possess a keen understanding of the regulations and challenges related to handling waste initially removed from the unit, as well as that generated during the cleaning process.
And finally, waste treatment and transportation of hazardous and nonhazardous materials can vary from tank to tank and location to location. Moreover, tank owners may have different methods or challenges for dealing with the waste.
Bottom line, regardless of the circumstances, the tank must first be cleaned and freed of any gasses to ensure safe entry. Cleaning typically begins by obtaining a representative sample of the tank’s contents and completing a comprehensive bench-scale treatability analysis.
With this information, an all-inclusive decontamination/cleaning procedure can be developed – vapor phase, circulation or mechanical – to ensure zero release of hazardous gas and vapor, spills, pyrophoric generation and other dangers and upsets. Likewise, pre-project engineering can plan logistics, determine the best access/hookups to each vessel to be cleaned and the proper equipment and accessories needed to complete the job safely and successfully.
Reduction of waste generated during cleaning projects is always a concern, Matrix excels at waste minimization with the use of their advanced processing Tricanter units. Where most 3-phase centrifuge units max out at 2200 rpm, a Matrix unit can run up to 3600 rpm and has up to 50% more capacity than others used in the industry. These features ensure drier solids, average around 17% moisture versus 35%, with cleaner water centrate and better-quality recovered oil (less than 0.5% BS&W). This equates into less waste going out for disposal. Finally, a waste treatment or disposal plan can be developed to include on-site treatment and/or transport to the appropriate waste handling facility.
Once decontamination/cleaning work is complete, a thorough inspection can be made. To be considered valid, the inspection must be completed by properly certified inspectors. Among the certifications that must be held are API 653, STI SP001 and DOT, as well as nondestructive evaluation (NDE) certifications in ultrasonic, dye penetrant, magnetic particle, vacuum box, visual and X-ray.
Finally, based on the results of the inspection, any maintenance or repair issues can be addressed by qualified professionals who offer engineered repair procedures, appropriate safety records and training, and ASME welding expertise including knowledge of all appropriate construction codes.
Across the provision of all three services – cleaning, inspection, and repair – proper documentation is also mandatory. For owner/operators that have multiple sites or facilities that cross state or international borders, even greater requirements must be met, making a safe, consistent, repeatable process even more critical.
Finding the right contractor
By choosing a contractor that offers proven expertise in all three services – cleaning, inspection, and repair – it gets much easier for owner/operators to meet inspection deadlines and compliance requirements.
Do your homework and ask questions.
- Does your contractor have full capabilities and experience in all areas of cleaning, inspection, and mechanical repair, or will they be subcontracting some elements?
- Do they have various cleaning technologies and methods available to use, based on the specific circumstances of your project?
- Does your full-service provider allow for schedule compression and cost savings, and if so, how is this accomplished?
Using a reputable contractor that can provide vertically integrated cleaning, inspection and repair services will result in a better customer experience with improved schedule and cost efficiencies.
For more information about this topic, contact Floyd Shoemaker at (360) 441-1314 or visit www.matrixservice.com.
