Tehran Oil Refinery - Fire moment 5

[LittleInch]

Confused messages coming from Tehran, but lots of mentions of an LPG leak/ due before the main fire. No mention though that a tank failed.

It may have been a large slops tank so maybe that was water coming out then when it failed the oil above the water layer got exposed.

The tank may have been exposed to a jet fire? Hence weakened and started leaking.

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[RedSnake]

Well this is the conversation in the instagram yesterday.
I toke away who was saying what.
And now I can't get in anymore.
Of course I have no idea if this people have any real insight thus the reason I didn't post it before, take it for what it is.

For this reason, there is a risk of collapse for other thoughts.

Only no one was under

Why are they laughing? Do not do your own thing

It was an explosion

It was an explosion to drop a bomb

Nothing special happened, it does not matter

It turns out that he is filming and waiting for the explosion

This is a crime in thought and its appearance explodes

Since when has oil waste been refueled?

Explosion card

Why should the storage of this oil waste be close to the city and the people when it is so dangerous?

The welder in the tank is made by a motor

Best Regards A


“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[LittleInch]

Sounds like someone who's never seen the inside of an oil refinery....

The refinery has been there 55 years - it's very likely the city has grown to encompass the refinery, not the other way around.

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[McDermott1711]

By looking at this picture, it seems that they didn't consider a dyke for the tanks and I recon the tanks was used primarily for water storage (and perhaps this is the reason we don't see a fire protection acting automatically for them).
I've heard that (due to sanctions) Iran can no longer sell its condensates (from natural gas refineries) and tried to store them everywhere possible and by reaching the end of storage capacity, the process of natural gas production is disturbed. And I guess this is why we see scheduled power outage in the country.

Google Map view of the tanks

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. Rene Descartes

 

[IRstuff]

But, the photo does show a wall around these tanks, which is why the fire retardant is all contained in the vicinity?

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[McDermott1711]

But, the photo does show a wall around these tanks, which is why the fire retardant is all contained in the vicinity?

Is the height enough?

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has. Rene Descartes

 

[IRstuff]

Possibly, for a single tank failure

https://www.google.com/maps/search/...Rey/@35.5410245,51.4264176,306m/data=!3m1!1e3

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[fran_b_s]

I work in a hydrocarbon storage company. Due to the characteristics of the tank (floating roof tank) it must store gasoline or something similar with a low flash point.
The collapse of the shell is spectacular and the weld must be very weak for it to open like this. That tank is not a water or LPG tank.

It looks like the product is coming out of the envelope before the collapse and the explosion. Product leakage generates an explosive atmosphere.

After detecting the initial leak, they had to trigger the fire system to fill the area with foam. In addition to removing the electrical power from the area.

 

[LittleInch]

Mcdermott,

The bunds are typically sized for the largest tank and to contain its volume +10%. The safest way is for each tank to have its own bund, but that takes up a LOT of space so usually you find multiple tanks within a single bund so long as it is all the same product. Especially for tanks built in 1960's.

No bund wall I am aware of considers tank failure like we saw where you get a tidal wave of liquid.

From the garbled information we have I think this tank was possibly being used as a giant water separator, hence the flammable bit was higher than the leak area and maybe having water in a tank not designed for it has caused corrosion in a seam weld. There was also mention of an earlier LPG fire which may have stressed that tank - who knows?? Also the tank may have been repurposed over time as the reports mention this being a "slops" tank.



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