Energy Fuels 2010, 24, 64896500

Published on Web 11/24/2010

: DOI:10.1021/ef1010644

Effects of the Exterior Surface Paint Color on Sludge Formation in a Crude Oil Storage
Tank (Case Study: Khark Island)
M. Farzaneh-Gord,*, M. Saadat-Targhi, A. Nabati, A. R. Rasekh, and H. Niazmand

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran, and Mechanical Engineering
Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Received August 12, 2010. Revised Manuscript Received October 29, 2010

One of the major problems associated with crude oil storage tanks is the settling of heavy particles and
formation of accumulated sludge at the bottom of the tank. In this study, the temperature distribution
within a crude oil storage tank has been calculated numerically and the effects of exterior surface paint
color on the tank temperature have been investigated. A thermodynamic model has been developed on the
basis of the equilibrium between the liquid and solid phases to calculate the solid-phase precipitation.
Employing a sedimentation equilibrium model, the deposition of the solid phase and sludge formation has
been evaluated. To validate the numerical results, Khark 28th crude oil storage tank is selected as a case
study and the numerical values of sludge height and oil temperature have been compared to the
experimental data, where good agreement is observed. Finally, the effects of the exterior surface paint
color on sludge formation of a crude oil storage tank have been investigated. The results show that
applying a darker color instead of the existing one may lead to 1.5 million USD/year savings for 40 crude oil
storage tanks.

when the temperature of the crude oil falls below the cloud
point or the wax appearance temperature (WAT). It is
important to discern between the precipitation and deposition. Precipitation is an essential but not sufficient condition
for deposition. Unfortunately, this issue seems to be a bit confusing in common parlance in the oil industry. Precipitation is
sometimes incorrectly referred to as deposition. It must be
noted that deposition during production operations is a more
complex phenomenon than precipitation.3
There have been several studies on precipitation mechanisms and particle size distributions. A photometer was used
to measure the intensity of scattered light in toluene/heptane/
asphaltene mixtures by Horvath et al.4 The onset of asphaltene precipitation was determined as a function of the asphaltene concentration in the presence and absence of maltenes as
well as water. The onset is dependent upon the asphaltene concentration. The presence of water promoted while the presence of maltenes inhibited the precipitation of asphaltene.
Hong and Watkinson5 performed a study of asphaltene solubility and precipitation and reported the effects of diluent
composition on asphaltene precipitation from Cold Lake
vacuum residue, and Athabasca atmospheric tower bottoms
have been determined using the hot filtration method. Nazmul
et al.6 presented evolution of asphaltene floc size distribution
in organic solvents under shear. A mathematical model was
developed on the basis of population balance to analyze
experimental data on asphaltene floc size distribution in a
coagulating suspension. Experiments were carried out in a
Couette device under a laminar flow condition. Floc size

1. Introduction
A large percentage of crude oil taken from various places in
the world is transported or processed in operational conditions, where the heavy contents of hydrocarbons in the fluid
can precipitate as a solid phase of asphaltene and waxen
material. There are about 40 storage tanks on Khark Island,
which are used to store crude oil for short periods of time to
stabilize the flow between production wells and transporting
ships. During storage time, at ambient temperature and pressure, asphaltene and wax may flocculate into larger almost
spherical particles and settle as a result of the gravitational
force. The settling particles form solid sludge at the bottom of
the storage tanks, which is one of the major problems related
to the crude oil storage tank. The sludge decreases the tank
storage capacity and also causes corrosion. Economic losses
as a result of asphaltene and wax deposition in the crude oil
transportation and storage have recently reached several
billions of dollars per year.
In this paper, a new numerical model for predicting the
effects of exterior surface paint color on sludge formation of
crude oil storage tanks is developed. Crude oil is a mixture of
light and heavy hydrocarbons. The heavier parts, such as wax
and asphaltene, dissolve into the lighter ones in crude oil. At a
given pressure, when the temperature of crude oil drops, the
solubility of heavy fractions reduces sufficiently enough that
heavy hydrocarbons start precipitating in the form of wax and
asphaltene.1 The temperature strongly affects the wax precipitation in crude oil, while the pressure plays an important
role in the asphaltene precipitation.2 Wax tends to precipitate

(3) Venkatesan, R.; Creek, J. L. Proceedings of the Offshore Technology Conference; Houston, TX, April 30-May 3, 2007; SPE Paper 18798.
(4) Horvath-Szab
o, G.; Masliyah, J. H.; Czarnecki, J. Can. J. Chem.
Eng. 2008, 82, 10891095.
(5) Hong, E.; Watkinson, P. Fuel 2004, 83, 18811887.
(6) Nazmul, H; Rahmani, G.; Dabros, T.; Masliyah, J. H. Chem. Eng.
Sci. 2004, 59, 685697.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mahmood.

farzaneh@yahoo.co.uk.
(1) Elsharkawy, A. M.; Al-Sahhaf, T. A.; Fahim, M. A. Fuel 2000, 79,
10471055.
(2) Firoozabadi, A. Thermodynamics of Hydrocarbon Reservoirs, 1st
ed.; McGraw-Hill: New York, 1999.
r 2010 American Chemical Society

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