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Vapor Recovery Around the World |
Asia/Oceania |
This region’s refineries produce relatively high RVP gasoline with high levels of benzene. The relatively warm climate results in high storage tank temperatures that generate correspondingly high evaporative losses. Typically, the dealer’s own the product in the tanks and, therefore, suffer the loss from evaporation. The supplier’s have no immediate incentive to reduce these losses and they typically control the hardware installed at the dealer’s site. Some dealers in Australia have complained about buying product at high temperatures and selling the same product at reduced temperatures. The associated volume reduction means that they cannot resell the same volume of product that they originally purchased. Ironically, current Australian regulations (AS1940) do not allow pressure/vacuum relief vents on gasoline storage tanks. Such vents would allow for more efficient Stage I vapor recovery and also the use of a membrane processor to reduce the significant evaporative losses. It is well known that gasoline blends expand about 0.7 percent per 10° F temperature rise. This effect is important when conducting an inventory reconciliation. If corrections are not made for this effect, significant errors can result. To closely monitor the temperature differential effect on inventory and to ensure that one is operating a relatively leak free system, statistical inventory reconciliation and tank testing services are in widespread use throughout the world. They are especially important as a business management tool in Asia and Oceania. As you would expect, interest in wet stock control and evaporative loss reduction is high, even though only one Asian country has Stage II requirements in place. In this regard, ARID is collaborating with an Australian firm named RedOne. RedOne has developed a statistical algorithm that is used to conduct monthly statistical inventory reconciliation (SIR) for gasoline stations. RedOne’s model accounts for normal variations in bulk terminal and retail dispenser meters; temperature differentials; water ingress; product leaks from the tank and piping; evaporative losses; tank calibration chart inaccuracies; and tank level recording errors. Once identified, the effects of these errors are eliminated from the data to identify the actual loss trend, if any, that may exist. The consistent negative trending for evaporative losses in the RedOne analysis corresponds closely to the losses predicted using ARID’s Evaporative Loss Model. RedOne also is collaborating with a tank testing company called Masstech. If the corrected inventory discrepancy values calculated by RedOne are consistently outside of the expected normal variation limits, detailed tank and product line testing must be done to ensure that liquid leaks are not present. The Masstech tank integrity test measures changes in fuel mass, instead of the fuel level, in a tank. Therefore, small level changes due to temperature do not affect test results’ accuracy. The combined RedOne/Masstech/ARID service package provides petroleum marketers with continuous wet stock inventory management and control capabilities. The savings of salable product from using the membrane vapor recovery technology are more than enough to finance the RedOne and Masstech services. More information on vapor recovery activities in the Asia/Oceania region can be obtained from Mr. Reed Leighton at reedleighton@lob.com.au. |
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