Crude oil storage: odor emission control with osmogenic barrier system

Our Israeli distributor UNIVICE has been working for some time with the company that operates the largest crude oil storage center in Israel.

They engaged us to find a solution to the problem of odors from crude oil storage tanks.

The filling and emptying operations of these tanks were generating odor emissions that were also felt by the population living in the area adjacent to the facility.

Our experience with one of our Italian clients, operating in the same sector, allowed us to immediately identify the odor problem and propose an innovative solution capable of reducing the odor nuisance by 80%.

The intervention took the form of the design of a new customized plant with HPS Midi Plus osmogenic barrier technology for the distribution of deodorizing products capable of neutralizing odor and preventing its spread to the surrounding area.

Collaboration with our distributor and knowledge of the problem of odor emissions from crude oil storage tanks were the success factors of the intervention.

Let's see how we solved the problem first at the Italian plant and then at the plant in Israel.

In 2019, Labiotest dealt with an odor emission problem in crude oil storage and handling operations from the marine terminal at a tank farm in Italy.

The park consists of 32 tanks with double pontoon floating roofs and double seals and has a total capacity of more than 2 million cubic meters.

Each tank is equipped with operating, inspection and maintenance safety devices and different grades of crude oil could be stored there simultaneously.

In this case, the solution to the nuisance odor emissions was the installation of a system with osmogenic barrier technology that achieved more than 80% abatement efficiency.

Operators in the Control Room, located at the company's headquarters, through a sophisticated control system manage the automation processes in the line stations (pumping, valve, overflow and delivery), collecting measured values, reports and commands, recording data and performing control and safety procedures around the clock.

The Israeli customer's situation was very similar to that of the Italian tank farm.

The complex is very large and consists of numerous storage tanks that are filled and emptied frequently.

The client asked us to verify the criticality of the emissions coming from the tank area and in particular the odor emanating from the areas to the east and north of the plant during the filling and emptying of the tanks.

After an initial testing phase comparing three different technologies, the one proposed by our distributor proved to be the most efficient and therefore installation on some tanks was started.

The osmogenic barrier turned out to be an easy-to-implement, economically viable solution and the only one capable of achieving olfactometric efficiencies above 80% for this specific problem.

After careful review of the areas to be treated and technical feasibility, we proposed to install 2 HPS Midi Plus systems to be placed in the area adjacent to the tanks being treated.

HPS Midi Plus is a variant of HPS Midi Var and HPS Midi Fresh: the difference is that it has a larger pump to handle more nozzles. In fact, each system handles 130 nozzles and 730 mt of closed loop pipe to keep the delivery pressure constant. To monitor the delivery pressure, a pressure gauge was included to display the operating pressure data.

The nozzles have been placed on the perimeter of the tanks to ensure the containment of malodorous emissions.

The system also provides the following equipment:

• a valve system that allows selective operation of one line at a time as needed;
• an operating line guarantee panel capable of dosing and spraying the deodorizing product;
• an external control panel for ON/OFF signal, water shortage signal, liter counter product;
• a weather station connection system that, by gonioanemometer, operates the system according to the wind in order to reduce consumption.

The system was installed and started up directly by technicians from our Istraeli distributor, according to our instructions.

In the testing phase, different neutralizing products were tested and the best performance in terms of odor abatement was obtained with the LT Neutral product as suggested by us based on olfactometric tests carried out in Italy.

In fact, LT Neutral has no fragrance tracers that would have mixed with odorigenic emissions; this eliminates the risk of interference between synergistic odors.

The results obtained show that the osmogenic barrier is a viable solution for distributing neutralizing products in a crude oil storage facility. In this case, the osmogenic barrier ensures:

• that there is no risk to humans and the environment;
• odor abatement efficiency exceeding 80%;
• easy construction and adaptability to customer needs;
• possibility of integrating technological improvements to ensure operability and cost-effectiveness of the system;
• low investment and maintenance costs proportionate to the actual criticality.

Our distributor has already applied this technology at two separate sites of this company, establishing an ongoing partnership relationship, with plans to extend our technology to all the company's facilities.

UNIVICE's satisfaction with the use of Labiotest's osmogenic barrier technologies also shines through in the words they used in describing this project.

"This innovative technology is revolutionizing the field of odor control, providing an effective solution where conventional methods often fail. With a strong focus on safety, we have ensured that our system is thoroughly tested and confirmed safe for both humans and the environment. We are not just eliminating odors, we are redefining the standards of environmental solutions."