ON LINE METHOD FOR REDUCING SLUDGE VOLUME IN CRUDE OIL STORAGE TANKS

摘要

Cleaning of sludge from the bottom of crude oil storage tanks is expensive and time consuming.Sludge samples from several storage tanks in North America and the Far East were analyzed tocharacterize the nature of the sludge. A method is described which enables refineries to reduce thevolume of tank bottoms material 'on line' while crude oil is transferred in and out of active tanks. Thispractice should reduce the time and cost required to clean storage tanks when they are opened forinspection and repair.