Access road/way to tanks 2

[B.L.Smith]

Dear Sirs,

We are providing a plot plan for a tankage area, including C3, C4, C5+, condensate, and fire water tanks. Which of these tanks need access road through the dike wall(access to inner dike space) and which of them just need stair for access to tanks?

Regards,
B. Smith

 

[pennpiper]

Brad,
I am no longer active on piping websites, but am making an exception here to help you.

(1) You need to give the people here the information to be able to provide proper answers. The information needed includes the number of Tanks for each commodity and the size of each Tank for that Commodity. The country where these Tanks will be located would also help.

(2) You need to get a copy of two Codes: API 650 Storage Tank Code and NFPA Fire and Safety Codes

(3) All Hydrocarbon Storage Tanks need to be contained in Compounded areas. The containment area needs Concrete walls or Earthen Dikes. For a single Tank the impounded area shall be large enough to contain the total storage capacity of that single Tank plus potential storm and or Fire Water.

(4) Dike Areas with two or more Tanks inside the walls get more complicated. The containment area shall include the capacity of the largest Tank plus the displaced area of all other tanks inside that Dike area.

(5) Access to the inside of the Containment area needs to be provided for Operations and Maintenance. Human Access can be via Stairs up and over the Dikes. Access needs to be provided via slopping ramps up and over the Dikes walls for both large and small Vehicles.



Sometimes its possible to do all the right things and still get bad results

 

[mk3223]

As a great list above, the tank(s) may need both the access road and stair over the dike in the opposite locations to provide the safety egress for O&M.

 

[LittleInch]

Unless you are talking about highly insulated tanks, storage of C3 & C4 requires pressure vessels, typically "bullets" or dome shaped vessels operating at pressures up to circa 20 bar.

Very few tanks "require" road access for operation, but occasional cleaning and repair usually requires some form of access through or across the bund wall / dyke. There are many ways of achieving this including allowing for partial removal of the wall or bund.

Pennpiper gives an excellent set of issues to address.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.