Liquid Petroleum Gas Leakage Recommendation Report

Summary

This report identifies mistakes in the Chevron Pipeline Company’s leak detection system by

comparing it with the factory safety-requirements and recommends a more reliable, accurate and

cost-effective method. The two methods are compared based on these parameters, and the most Commented [DC1]: Nice—“mistakes” might be too
informal, though – and what method are you specifically
recommending?
effective one is recommended. The report recommends a change from the vapor testing tubes to
Commented [DC2]: Names of methods?
infrared radiometric pipeline testing system. Commented [DC3]: Which is? And what are your criteria?
 Table of Contents

Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 1

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 Background on the Situation ................................................................................................. 4

3.0 Requirements........................................................................................................................... 4

4.0 Technical Background ............................................................................................................ 4

5.0 Description ............................................................................................................................... 5

8.0 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................. 7

 1.0 Introduction

Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) leakage can be dangerous to the environment as well as the
health of the people (Chen et al., 2193-2196). Therefore, it is critical that one can easily identify
and quickly handle the leak to prevent these catastrophic effects. This report recommends Commented [DC4]: Excellent topic sentence and
various corrective and safety measures for LPG transport to avoid the effects of LPG leakage. It connection through old-new contract
is crucial for the organizations that transport LPG as well as the society. There is no technical
background required of the audience of this report. It will help the transportation firms to Commented [DC5]: Why would there be no technical
respond to LPG leaks better and efficiently. Transporting gas through pipelines has become a background required for this audience of nonspecialists and
specialists alike?
trend due to the advantages of pipeline transport such as ease of transport as compared to truck
transport and that it can transport in bulk. LPG and oil transporting companies invest huge
amounts of resources in pipeline transport. As a result, it is crucial that the organization is in a
position to detect and respond to any leak in time to prevent the firm from losses and to protect
the society and the environment. This report compares the factory safety requirements and the
LPG leakage detector machine installed at Chevron Pipe Line Company and recommends an
alternative detection method. Commented [DC6]: So far, this is your most concise
summary of the comparisons being made in this report – I’m
still unsure what the alternate dectection method actually is.
2.0 Background on the Situation

LPG has become an essential part of the human society as they depend on it for various Commented [DC7]: For the audience of this report, why is
uses such as cooking, space heating and automotive propulsion among other uses. LPG is often a LPG an essential commodity? Expanding this claim to all of
human society may be distracticing to your audience.
colorless liquid that easily evaporates and changes into a gas. Mostly, LPG is transported or
stored in a liquid form. Once the liquid leaks, it changes form into gas and evaporates to form a
dense cloud of harmful gas that is highly flammable and dangerous to the environment as it
contains a carcinogen. Once the gas or liquid is formed in the air, it drops to the ground often
collecting in basements and drains which can be dangerous for the human population. It easily
ignites or explodes once it meets an ignition source such as fire.

Various safety and health regulations cover the codes of practice for storage and
transportation of LPG in pipelines. According to the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Commented [DC8]: Good topic sentence – specific and
recommendations, there are several leak detection methods for petroleum leakage. Nonetheless, clear.
the selection criteria are dependent on the organization transporting the commodity (Chen et al.,
2193-2196). If the firm gets it wrong during the selection, they might incur huge losses due to
failed systems as well as the effects of the LPG leak. These monitoring-devises need to be
accurate and sensitive enough to detect the smallest size of the gas leak and send an alarm to the
firm. Early detection gives the company the ability to respond and stop the leak early enough
hence minimizing the dangers that can be caused by having petroleum gas in the air. The
Chevron Pipe Line Company went with the API’s vapor sensing tubes.

3.0 Requirements

After going through the firm’s leak detection systems and comparing it with the factory
safety requirements and recommendations, it was concluded that the firm needs an update from Commented [DC9]: Remember that this comparison
the use of vapor sensing tubes to the use of infrared radiometric pipeline testing. There are should make up a considerable amount of the report – what
is your criteria ? In other words, how would you compare the
reasons why a firm chooses one system over the other. One of these reasons includes the firm’s leak detection system with factory safety
instrumentation software and hardware, flow regime, mechanical equipment, communication and requirements, and how would you choose vapor sensing
monitoring and the existence of response team among others. The requirements required for the tubes instead of infrared radiometric pipeline testing?
change of system will include a change in software and hardware and additional mechanical Commented [DC10]: What reasons, specifically? These
equipment. The additional requirements will force the company to invest more resources in the reasons should be your criteria that organize and clarify your
recommednation from other options.
LPG detector machine, as the system update is expensive. Another requirement with the infrared
radiometric pipeline testing is that they will have to fit infrared sensors to the ground surface to
analyze and detect the magnitude of the gas leak. An infrared radiometer will need to be fitted in
the system; this will allow the system to send images or pictures of the leaks to determine its
location as well as the magnitude of the leak helping the response teams to respond in time. Commented [DC11]: These reasons are excellent – think
about reorganizing these reasons as criteria, then moving
through each of the options you’re considering (vapor
4.0 Technical Background sensing tubes and infrared radiometric pipeline testing, it
sounds like)
Infrared radiometric pipeline testing is crucial in detecting LPG leaks and poor backfills
of the pipelines due to erosion and human error. When a leak occurs, the liquid or leaking
material causes a thermal conductance difference between the original dry soil and the current
state of the soil due to the leak. This difference causes a temperature difference along the
pipeline surface, and the infrared radiometer detects it. The radiometer scans the entire area of
the pipeline and sends a response regarding pictures and images to the responding team on the
ground. The images show the exact location of the leak. This system is essential for tracking
LPG leaks as deep as thirty meters in the ground. On the other hand, the vapor sensing tube
detectors use tubes to detect the presence of vapor in the environment. The tubes are fitted all the
way along the pipeline. The material of the tube is highly permeable, and once a leak occurs, the
leaking material dissolves the tube or cable sensor. The dissolving cable or tube sends an
accurate image of the situation the ground to the gas-detecting system at the company after a
certain period. They can analyze the position of the leak by calculating the magnitude of the air
column pumped in the detection unit.

5.0 Description

This report compares the efficiency and the safety of the leakage detection process in the
Chevron Pipeline Company with the industrial safety requirements. It compares the use of vapor
sensing tubes and infrared radiometric pipeline testing. The main aim of the report is to come up
with a more efficient method or recommendations aimed at improving the safety and efficiency
of the company’s leakage detection systems or process. The recommendation will be beneficial
to the firm as they will be able to detect an LPG leak and respond to it in time. This will help the
firm in creating a better relationship with society as well as reducing the effects of a potential
LPG leakage. Commented [DC12]: Excellent summary! This
description section would be an effective executive summary
to begin your report with.
6.0 Point by Point Comparison

There are various leak detection methods available in the industry. However, their
application is dependent on issues such as reliability, accuracy, cost, and sensitivity.

6.1 Reliability

Reliability is the system’s ability to detect an accurate leakage. The user of the systems
should trust the alarms sent by the system. Therefore, the leakage detection method should be
able to send few or no false alarms for it to be reliable. Nonetheless, the most sensitive systems
have the highest number of false alarms. In comparison, vapor sensing tubes and infrared
radiometric pipeline testing are equally reliable as far as sensing a gas leakage is concerned.
However, the infrared radiometric system is more reliable as it can respond to leaks as deep as 30
meters. Its reliability is improved by the fact that it reports other scenarios such as poor
backfilling and soil erosion along the pipeline. According to the industrial safety requirements,
the system should be able to report and detect the least amount of gas leak and these two systems
fit that requirement even though the infrared radiometric testing is advantaged by the fact that it
detects other scenarios.

6.2 Accuracy

Accuracy measures precision of the leak detection system. An accurate system measures
parameters such as the flow rate, amount of leak and location of the leakage with high precision.
The infrared radiometric system is found to be more accurate as it shows the location and the
volume of the leakage in a pictorial form. This enables the responding team to respond
effectively and in time.
 6.3 Sensitivity

The American pipeline institute defines sensitivity as the ability to detect the lowest
amount of LPG leakage and the time it takes to detect the leakage. Nonetheless, sensitivity is
dependent on the volume of the leak. The infrared radiometric testing is more sensitive than the
vapor sensing tubes. The vapor sensing tubes are limited by the fact that one has to wait for the
system to calculate the magnitude of the leak using the air pumped in the detection unit which
can take some time while the infrared radiometric pipeline testing responds immediately.

6.4 Cost

The expenses incurred by the organization to install and maintain the system are major
requirements. The safety requirements ensure that the organization should be able to replace a
faulty system or repair a broken system immediately to ensure its effectiveness. Therefore, the
cost comes into play, as the vapor sensing tubes have to be applied along the entire length of the
pipeline which is expensive to install and maintain. The firm has to replace the tube dissolved by
a leak, and one cannot predict the number of leaks that the firm can experience in a given time.
The infrared radiometric testing method is cheaper as leakage does not destroy it.

7.0 Conclusion

The vapor sensing tube is the method applied by the Chevron Pipeline Company.
However, it has some limitations as far as the industry safety requirements are concerned. An
organization should have the most reliable, accurate, sensitive and cost-effective method in place
to track down LPG leaks. It is recommended that this company changes its leak detection system
from vapor sensing tubes to the use of infrared radiometric pipeline testing due to the following
reasons. Regarding reliability, the two systems are equally reliable. However, the infrared
radiometric system is more reliable as it can respond to leaks as deep as 30 meters. The infrared
radiometric system is found to be more accurate as it shows the location and the volume of the
leakage in a pictorial form. The infrared radiometric testing is more sensitive than the vapor
sensing tubes hence another reason to ditch it. The vapor sensing tubes are limited by the fact
that one has to wait for the system to calculate the magnitude of the leak using the air pumped in
the detection unit which can take some time. Finally, the cost of installation and maintenance for
the vapor sensing tubes is higher as compared to the infrared radiometric testing method.
 8.0 Works Cited

Chen, Tai-Yih, et al. “Impact of the Leakage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) on Santiago Air
Quality.” Geophysical Research Letters, 28.11 (2001): 2193-2196.