Tank Cleaning Methods

Amr A. Nader
Performance Director
Tank Cleaning Methods
1. Chemical:
Cheapest
Effective
Safe
2. Steam:
Cheap
Most effective
Safe
3. Mechanical:
Expensive
Less Effective
Less Safe

YCC Management Team

 Chemical Methods
An improved crude oil tank-cleaning process can reduce hazardous waste generated from tank bottoms and
allow the recovery of valuable hydrocarbons.
The process uses chemicals, heat, water, and applications technology.
Mobil Oil Corp., with the help of Nalco Chemical Co., used this process to remove 58,000 bbl of sludge from
a 690,000 bbl crude oil storage tank within 10 days.
Mobil used a chemical cleaning method that minimizes waste through source reduction and resource
recovery. Crude tank sludge is transformed into high-quality crude oil, water, and nonhazardous solids.
To do this, an aqueous chemical solution is added to the tank, along with a diluent or light oil, in which the
hydrocarbons in the sludge can dissolve. The water layer is heated to solubilize the surface area of the
sludge, allowing the chemical penetrant to break up the sludge.
The density of the primary oil-laden sludge forces it to rise through the water to the diluent-water interface
while the cleaning solution extracts solids and water from the oil. At this interface, the chemical continues to
penetrate the sludge and strip out the solids.
An emulsion-breaking component assures separate oil and water layers. The heavy hydrocarbons from the
sludge disperse evenly through the diluent for recovery.
Tank cleaning by this method usually takes 3-4 weeks, but can be accomplished in as little as 8 days, as in
Mobil's case. This program eliminates the need to handle the sludge mechanically, which reduces costs.
The oil, water, and solids separation is complete. Recovery of the available hydrocarbons is typically 99%,
thus eliminating hazardous-waste handling costs.

YCC Management Team

Steam Methods
The BLABO system - Oil tank cleaning system for
crude oil, HFO and other black oil tanks:
Our patented BLABO system is an automated, mobile and modular, non-
man entry oil tank cleaning system. Especially designed to clean large
volume, difficult-to-clean oil tanks, the BLABO system can be tailored to
meet your individual needs whether you simply need efficient tank cleaning
or if you require tank cleaning, sludge separation and oil recovery in one
integrated process. BLABO is suitable for both floating and fixed roof tanks.
Compared to manual cleaning techniques, the BLABO system cleans tanks
much more safely and quickly. A distinctive feature of the BLABO system is
its closed loop cleaning system, which heavily reduces the impact of tank
cleaning on the environment and provides near 100% hydrocarbon recovery

YCC Management Team

Is the BLABO system suitable for your tanks?

For difficult-to-clean tanks such as:

Crude oil
Heavy fuel oil (HFO)
Heavy gas oil (HGO)
Ballast water
Catalytic cracker residue
Slop oil
Rail tanker etc.
Tank capacity: Up to 200,000 m (Up to 1,240,000 bbl)
Tank diameter: 30 - 100+ m(98 - 308+ ft)

YCC Management Team

Benefits of the BLABO technology
Reduced time:
Up to 80% reduction of tank cleaning
time (compared to manual)
Shorter overall tank down-time
Minimal environmental impact:
Minimal waste disposal necessary
Near 100% recovery of hydrocarbons
Minimal hydrocarbon emission to
atmosphere due to closed-loop cleaning
Lower consumption of water, electricity
and air
Cleaning result:
Unique indexed washing pattern covers
complete tank interior surface area
Re-circulation of cleaning media during
desluding
YCC Management Team
Safe cleaning process:
No staff inside tank during cleaning
process (non-man entry system)
Continuous monitoring and automatic
shutdown features
No risk of explosion
Minimal health and safety risks to staff
System complies with ATEX (other
standards upon request)
Read more about safety measures in the
BLABO system/process
Lower costs:
Overall tank cleaning costs reduced - see
the cost/benefit analysis
Steam Methods
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxm2MN0
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YCC Management Team

Mechanical Method
De-sludging and Sludge Recovery
De-sludging is a process of removing accumulated sludge at tank bottom by using
Nano Technology chemical treatment. This methodology works for;
Floating Storage Offloading tanker (FSO)and Floating Production, Storage and
Offloading Tanker (FPSO)
Crude Oil Tanks
Slop Oil Tanks
After few years in service, normally tanks will experience Base Sediment &
Water (BS & W) and water accumulation. Therefore, the storage efficiency
and capacity has reduced accordingly.
Certain sludge especially fresh crude sludge which contains high hydrocarbon
can we recovered through combination of chemical and mechanical process.
It will generate savings to user since it can be re-use and also minimize the
waste that required for disposal

YCC Management Team

Mechanical Method
Draining out pumpable oil from storage
tank.
Installation of equipments.
Introduction of cutter stock
/solvent.
Start the jet mixer and
Circulation of Cutter stock.
Vacuuming/Pumping or
removal of sludge by using tank
dozer (Excavator).
Sludge deposited to safe place
and transferred for oil recovery.
Tank internal cleaning with
entry using life support system.
(Breathing Apparatus)
Equipment:

YCC Management Team