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Floating Roof Tank Design PDF
Floating Roof Tank Design PDF
June 2011 TA N K S T O R A G E
External floating roof or full contact internal floating roof? These tests
compare emission levels, maintenance costs and the impact the
Issue 1 - May 2009
Decision time
Technical Articles
Floating Roof Design
Floating roofs have been in existence for over half a century, providing operators and regulatory bodies a reliable,
time proven safety and emission control system. Floating roofs function by reducing the formation and release of
environmentally harmful and potentially explosive volatile organic chemicals in above ground storage tank
loating roofs have
systems.
Typical floating roof designs
- May 2009
Technical Articles
to
1. and wind effects.
Elevated Seal Losses caused by wind
and vacuum
seals to reduce emissions
in effect.
the
Internal floating roof systems only
Sealed Cables
rim area (area between the
require a single liquid mounted
No Emission Paths
seal, which typically extends above
pontoon and tank shell wall). The
the liquid level by 8 to 12. For
primary seal is typically contained
Emission Paths
Max Fill
Height
internal floating
roof
a design and
within the pontoon rim area while
at Leg Locations
depending on the perimeter seal
the secondary seal extends
system used the total volume loss
anywhere from 18 to 24 above
profile will vary from about 9 to
the pontoon level.
For external
18 above product
floating roof pontoon designs, that
36 ~ 54level.
Loss
total volume loss profile equates to
about 42 to 72 or more above
product level.
www.sandbornroofs.com
Steel Pontoon
External Floating Roof
Full Contact
Internal Floating Roof
81
drainage
systems.onPerimeter
seals
EFR systems
the same
sized
onFloating
both
designs,
tank
and
operatingexternal
low/high or
level
rooF design
internal
floating roofs may require
conditions.
Chart A: the difference in
in netapproximately
operating volume between a 10
replacement
pontoon EFR system and full Chart
contact IFRsystem
A perimeter
to 20 year cycles. EFR
150' dia. x 48' Shell
Barrels % Volume
seal
systems are larger151,092
than IFR
100%
Total Tank Capacity
seal
systems
and are significantly
113,319
75%
Steel
Pontoon EFR
124,336on an
82%
Full Contact
IFR
more
expensive
to replace
Difference
11,017
7%
on-going
Some
storage
Based on 3-6basis.
Operating,
4-0 HeadIFR
Loss 54
EFR vs 12 IFR
Based Low
on 3'-6
Low Operating,
4'-0 Head
Loss
54 EFR
vsseveral
12 columns
IFRconditions including
tanks
several
steel
to
inches.use
Honeycomb
Panels
or composite foam filled
tank turnovers (shell losses),
support
the fixed steel
cone roof
panels float in full contact
vapour pressure, atmospheric
with the liquid
conditions
and
system,
sosurface
each column
will(heat/wind)
have a
and only immerse into the
floating roof design. The
product by about 0.5-1. penetration
floating roof components
corresponding
seal
Internal floating roof systems
affecting emission loss
that
replaced
at the
only are
require typically
a single liquid
include the perimeter
seal
mounted seal, which typically
design (single/double),
same
as
seal
extendstime
above the
liquidthe
level perimeter
support type (legs/cables/
by 8-12. For an internal
grid), penetration seals
system.
floating roof, depending on
for columns and ladders, as
the perimeter seal system
used, the total volume loss
profile will vary from about
9-18 above product level.
The difference between
a carbon steel external
floating roof and an internal
floating roof volume
loss height is anywhere
from roughly 36-54.
Depending on tank
diameter, that represents a
significant amount of working
volume loss for identical sized
aboveground storage tanks.
With all floating roof
systems, the floating roof has
to remain floating and not land
to work effectively. Floating
roof tanks have restrictions
on how high the tank can be
filled with product. External
floating roof systems need
to operate below the tank
shell or foam ports. Internal
floating roof systems must
not make contact with the
underside of the tank fixed
roof or support rafters. As
a result, the net capacity of
tanks is restricted to a certain
minimum (low) and maximum
(high) operating levels.
Chart A shows the difference
in net operating volume
between a pontoon External
Floating Roof (EFR) system
and full contact Internal
Floating Roof (IFR) system. In
this example, the IFR systems
adds 7% more net tank
operating volume compared
to the EFR systems on the
same sized tank and operating
low/high level conditions.
Floating roof design also
has a significant impact on
the total amount of volatile
organic chemicals (VOCs)
product emission losses.
VOC emissions vary based on
r odrain
o f systems
c o m p o non
e natlarge
s a f215'
f e c txi n g
and
losstank
include
60'emission
diameter
inthe
20perimeter
year
TA N K S T O R A G E June 2011
seal
design
(single/double),
service intervals.
Chart support
C: The approximate type
maintenance(legs/cables/grid),
costs of replacing the
perimeter seal, penetration seal and drain systems on a large 215 x
penetration
seals
for columns and
60 diameter tank in 20 year Chart
service intervals
C
ladders, as well asMaintenance
the floating
Costsroof
Materials
d e c k c o n sYears
t r u c t 20
i o n ( 40
if its
Steel
Pontoon EFR Perimeter
bolted/welded/sealed
together).
$144,700
$289,400
Seals & Hose Drain
Technical Articles
Chart B: a sample VOC emission calculation for a steel leg supported pontoon EFR versus a cable
Chart B
supported full contact aluminum IFR system
Type
Years
Steel Pontoon EFR
Full Contact IFR
Difference
1
7,480
5,490
1,990
Sa
801
Nis
T9E
Tele
Fax
Toll
ww
While
floati
will h
and
differ
const
syste
82
These drainage
Both
prove