Reduce Evaporation rate from Gasoline Storage Tanks

In our refinery, since 40 years we solved that problem by building a wall around the storage tanks, and the wall is apart by 1.2 m from the tank shell. If that solution is difficult for you, I suggest to use a hot insulating material as blankets around the shell of tank and no need to insulate the roof. That hot insulation is successfully used for LPG spherically storage tanks. May be you need to weld/tack weld of anchors to fix the insulation.

Thanks for suggestion and this might be the starting point to solve the problem. Could you please guide me to specify hot insulation material as industrial application for hazardous areas?

Due to space limitation and area congestion, building a wall could not be practical solution.

There are a lot of hot insulating material, please refer to the follwing sites:

1. mineral wool insulation

2. Glass Mineral Wool Insulation

3. EURIMA - European Mineral Wool Manufacturers Association Insulation

hi! I'm doing a Science project on this! Is there any facts you can give me?

treehugger

Hi elak

I have just recently finalized R&D on a product which could be very useful for you. The patent process is not finalized so I cannot tell you (or this forum) any details at the moment. It would beat building walls, using water or standard insulation hands down.

It would be interesting to know were you are so I could use my data and correlate it to your circumstances/environment. I have tested this system for longer than I wished and have considered applying it for your application/problem as well as others.

I am surprised that there is no available cost effective system in use which would help you and others out. Please contact me through my CR4 email for further details if you wish.

Good luck. Ky.

Dear ky,

We will not steal your idea, but we need to know any information about your product, may be we use it in future jobs. How you will market that product if stay as secret?

Hi Abdel

How you will market that product if stay as secret?

This is the biggest problem I have encountered during and after the development. To keep it a secret until I have patent protection (which I do not believe in but seems to be so important to the big boys, who can afford it).

I reacted to the post so that I could find some more details about the application and the environment it is situated in. This would put me in a position to evaluate if my system would be applicable, which I think it would be.

In long running tests (over three years) I have reduced surface heat, created by the sun, from 60C to 28C with no power input and a minimum of hardware and installation procedure. I had originally designed it for corrugated iron roofs and sheds which can get very hot in this part of Australia and anywhere else for that matter.

I had thought of using the system for silos, water tanks or other round or irregular surfaces but not for cooling containers holding volatile liquids like in this case. I would need more information and even a photo would help.

I am a single entity inventor and not part of a big company. Marketing this system is out of my reach and it will require a large company to deal with the marketing and the protection of the intellectual property.

I have a business plan which I could send to you. It contains no technical details but will put you in a position to evaluate this technology better. I could send it to your CR4 email if you wish. I don't think it would be appropriate to publish it here in this forum. I know I can trust you all but....

I am in no rush to get this off the ground and will wait until the time is right to go into partner ship with some company and make it a success, not only in the above mentioned application but in many others.

Please advise me if you are interested in going from here. At some later stage I could send you images of the system/proto types and its various applications. By the way, you guys at CR4 have helped me a lot solving one of the problems that came up during proto typing. I thank you for that. Ky.

Yes ky,

I understand your opinion. I hope you to success in having a patent protection asap. Thank you very much for offering me any details to evaluate this technology better.

A. Halim

Good post.

If they can also "recover" the gases and return them back in a liquid form as well, as just letting them vent off sounds exceedingly dangerous to me......surely someone here has a method to do that.......even if it costs as much as it saves, it will still be cheaper than a huge fireball at some point!!!!

The tanks should have been built underground in the first place as they are at any gas station in the western world.....

Have you looked into nitrogen gas blanketing? I don't know if this would be a practical solution or not. I guess it would depend on the leakage rate of the container.

I've used floating balls, about 2" (50 mm) dia to reduce evaporation in heated cleaning tanks. It works by reducing the exposed surface area. It may help in your case.

You don't have many choices. They are 1. Install a floating roof cover with double mechanical seals to wipe the walls on the cover, 2) install an internal floating roof cover, 3) Convert an old gas reciever tank back into service and inert your tanks with CO2, and use the gas reciever tank for filling operations. If you need more ideas, contact me dave dlr@mindspring.com

The simple and cost effective solution is an insulating coating. Any batt or wool insulation will only absorb moisture and lose its effectiveness. On gasoline storage tanks in Texas and on a 90 degree day, a white tank reaches temperatures of 135 degrees but coated with these insulation coatings it only reaches 100 degrees. The insulative coating prevents heat from loading thereby minimizes evaporation. These are industrial insulation coatings and not to be confused with white reflective paint. It would be better to discuss with a coating representative about the temperatures. My supplier is John Grey at 843-813-6402. Call him he can help you with this problem. He is an engineer and is familiar with the Texas gasoline tank project.

You should use the units correctly, I HOPE you meant °F and not °C........!!!!

Please excuse me. Of course it is F!!!!

In regards to maintenance and overall value. With your knowledge and experience. How important is it to keep the white insulated or white painted surface clean. Will this truly help make a differance in efficiency and evaporation for above ground commercial tanks.

You may think of evaluating the option of providing an internal floating roof. However, for that you need to provide a cover to the surface...similarr to a geodesic dome.

There are a couple of similar products available in the market. But, all this comes at a cost and also may need hot job to be done to the tank shell. Please evaluate the economics carefully & feasibility of carrying out the modifications before you choose any option.