Storage tanks for oil and petroleum products: classification, varieties, sizes

At modern oil refineries and enterprises of the fuel profile, special storage tanks for oil and oil products are actively used. It is these capacities that provide quantitative and qualitative safety. After reading this article, you will learn about the existing versions of such storages.

Classification of storage tanks for oil and petroleum products

Depending on the location, all existing capacities can be divided into:

• Underwater;
• Underground;
• Ground.

In addition, depending on the material used for the production of containers, they can be classified into synthetic, reinforced concrete and metal. The most popular of all the above categories are ground and underground metal tanks for storing oil and oil products (the photo will be attached a little lower). These containers, resistant to chemical and corrosive effects, must be sufficiently sealed to ensure the safety of the product.

How are these containers arranged?

All such storage facilities must necessarily have a bottom, a body and a roof. In addition, the tanks are additionally equipped with flight stairs, hatches for different purposes, fences, racks, stiffeners and other elements. Most small containers, the volume of which does not exceed 50 cubic meters, is produced in the factory. Already in the process of installation, they are equipped with the necessary operating equipment.

The remaining storage tanks for oil and petroleum products, the dimensions of which do not allow them to be transported assembled, are delivered to the installation site in the form of separate prefabricated elements (prefabricated) or in rolls with missing mounting details. This category includes vertical metal tanks, the volume of which is up to 100 thousand cubic meters.

It is impossible to ignore the roof of such storages. The construction of storage tanks for oil and oil products implies the installation of a floating, breathing or stationary roof. In the process of selecting this important element, it is necessary to take into account not only the volume of capacity, but also the features of the product stored in it, as well as the climatic conditions of the terrain in which it will be installed.

Steel vertical storage tanks for oil and petroleum products

GOST 31385-2008 sets the basic requirements for the design, production, installation and testing of such containers. Vertical storage facilities are characterized by the greatest capacity in comparison with other analogues. The volume of such containers varies between 400-50 000 cubic meters. To form their walls, a special sheet steel with a sheet or roll arrangement is used. The required degree of rigidity of the finished structure is achieved due to the presence of stiffeners. Such a repository is suitable for several types of roofs, including pontoon, floating, spherical, conical and flat.

Among other things, such storage tanks for oil and petroleum products are additionally equipped with dispensing nozzles, several valves and auxiliary hatches. To reduce the loss of petroleum products due to evaporation, storage facilities are made of thermal insulation materials.

The main features of horizontal tanks

Such reservoirs for storage of oil and oil products are of lesser tonnage. They can be installed on the ground or on concrete concrete supports. In addition, they are allowed to dig into the ground to a depth of not more than 1.2 meters.

Quite often such tanks are used not only for storage, but also for transportation of oil for significant distances. For transportation, tanks are installed on special railway platforms. Such storage facilities are made of steel sheets connected by welding seams. Such containers have a cylindrical, conical or flat bottom. In addition, they are equipped with dispensing nozzles, fill necks, inspection windows and valves.

Plastic containers: is it possible?

Relatively recently, plastic reservoirs for the storage of oil and petroleum products have appeared. They have a square shape, greatly facilitating the transportation process, and are characterized by low capacity. This is due to the small strength of the walls, for the manufacture of which a special kind of plastic is used. The volume of such storage facilities does not exceed five cubic meters, therefore they are of little use for industrial applications. To give the walls more strength, they are reinforced from the outside. Such tanks are equipped with only pressure valves, dispensing nozzles and filling necks. The absence of the need for observation windows is explained by the fact that light semi-transparent plastic is used for the production of such storage facilities.

Structural features of underground reservoirs

Double-walled underground tanks are used for storage and distribution of fuel and lubricants. The maximum durability and reliability of such tanks are ensured by the fact that the space formed between the outer and inner walls is filled with a liquid having a lower density than that of the stored substances. To prevent the possible occurrence of an airlock, the tanks are equipped with breathing valves. The outer walls of the container are covered with a two-component polyurethane dielectric anticorrosive paint.

Steel double-walled underground tanks correspond to all generally accepted standards, therefore they have been actively used for many decades to store liquids capable of damaging groundwaters.

What storage tanks for petroleum products are used at modern filling stations?

Almost all gas stations are equipped with steel tanks for storage of fuel materials. The reservoirs themselves can be located both above and below the ground. One of the most important problems, which is concerned with the management of all modern filling stations, is the minimization of losses during storage of fuel. Most of the losses are due to evaporation, which largely depends on the structural features of the tanks and on the temperature in them. That is why today, more often at gas stations, you can see underground storage facilities that provide a more stable temperature regime and allow to minimize the evaporation of fuel. The use of such tanks not only improves financial performance, but also has a beneficial effect on the environmental situation in the area adjacent to the gas station.