Why we are doing it and how do we do it?

In this post I will discuss about inerting of cargo tanks on

tankers.

Inerting

Tankers carry flammable cargoes.

Which means that one element of fire-triangle (Fuel) is

always present on tankers. And we know that oxygen is
omni-present.

The only thing stopping the completion of fire triangle would

be the source of ignition.

Considering what is at stake, the safety of tankers cannot

rely on just one single barrier.

For this reason, the oxygen level inside the cargo tanks need
to be such that even if the source of ignition is accidentally
present, the fire triangle would still not complete.

The process of reducing the oxygen level in the cargo tank is

called inerting.

Oxygen content to less than 8% is required to be in the

tanks containing flammable cargoes.
And to be able to bring the cargo tank to that oxygen level,
Inert gas containing less than 5% of oxygen is introduced in
the cargo tank.

Now comes the important part.

The time required to inert a tank to less than 8% of oxygen

level from 20.9% of oxygen level !!!
If you just introduce the inert gas in the cargo tanks without
a plan, you may end up doing this endlessly with cargo tank
still at more than 8% oxygen.

There need to be a plan and use of specific method and

techniques of doing it.

Broadly there are two methods of doing it. Both very

effective but we need to choose one. Here is what these
method of inerting are called.

 Inerting by Dilution method

 Inerting by Displacement Method

Before we get to these methods, we must understand the

basic pipelines structure inside a cargo tank.
There is a drop line through which cargo is loaded.

There is a vapour line (or IG Line) which is connected to the

IG(inert gas) line. The same line may form as the Vapour line
on the manifold.

And then there is a purge pipe. On some tankers (specially

chemical tankers), one part of PV valve may act as a purge
pipe.

Now let us get back to the method of inerting.

Inerting by Dilution method

As the name suggests, with this method we reduce the
oxygen content in the tank by diluting the air inside with
inert gas containing lesser oxygen (less than 5% by volume).

We keep on diluting it till the time the oxygen in the tank is

less than 8% by volume.

Usually this is achieved with 3-4 air changes.

For example, let us say that the tank is of 4000 m3 capacity.

This means that when we have diluted the air inside the tank
with about 12000 m3 of inert gas, it would have around 8%
of oxygen by volume.

But that is only when it is done correctly.

Okk, let us first see how it is done.

We supply the inert gas through IG line and we open the

purge flap of the purge line to let the air inside the tank
escape.

The velocity of the inert gas entering the tank need to be

more in this method.

Why?

Because we need to dilute the air inside. If the velocity of the

inert gas is less, half of it may escape through the purge pipe
and the dilution of the air will not be to the maximum
capacity.

This would take much longer time to reduce the oxygen level
in the tank.

So if we need to inert say 10 tanks and if decide it to be

done by dilution method, we cannot open all the 10 tanks at
one time.

If we start inerting all the 10 tanks with dilution method, the

velocity of the inert gas entering the tanks will be too low for
dilution method.
So in this case, we can start with 2 tanks. Once these two
tanks are inerted to less than 8% oxygen we can switch over
to the next set of 2 tanks.

Inerting by displacement method

Displacement method is little different from dilution method.

In this method, we displace the air inside the tank with the
inert gas.

With this method close to one air change is required to

achieve less than 8% of oxygen from initial 21%. oxygen in
the tank.

Let us see how it is done.

In this method, the inert gas is introduced from the bottom

of the tank. This is done by supplying the inert gas through
drop line of the tank.

To be able to do that, IG line need to connected to the cargo

lines at the manifold.

If multiple tanks are to be inerted, these tanks can be

connected to the common line and then IG line can be
connected to the common line.
We then need to set up the cargo lines just as we do for
loading through drop line and start the IG.

Now the inert gas will enter the cargo tank from the bottom
part of the tank (through drop line).

As the inert gas fills the bottom of the tank the existing air
(with 20.9% oxygen) will keep on exiting through the open
purge pipe.
The idea is to gradually and slowly displace the air inside the
cargo tank with the inert gas.

And one thing that we need to ensure during this is that the
inert gas must not be mixed with the air exiting through the
purge pipe.

Otherwise it will take longer time to reduce the oxygen

content of the tank.

And the only way to ensure that is to introduce the inert gas
inside the tank at slow rate or speed.
As you would note that this rule is completely opposite to the
dilution method where the inert gas was required to enter
the tank at high speed or rate.

So when inerting the tanks with displacement method, we

need to keep at least 4-6 tanks open when IG is running at
full capacity.

Which method of Inerting to choose?

Both the methods of inerting cargo tanks are equally good

and effective.

But we cannot choose both the methods. When inerting a

tank, we need to choose which method we need to use for
inerting.

The decision is not that difficult.

It all depends upon two factors.

1. how many tanks we need to inert?

If there are only one or two tanks for inerting, we definitely
need to inert with dilution method. This would be faster.

If we use displacement method in this case then we would

need to run the IG at the reduced rate and thus it would take
more time to inert the tanks.
But if there are 10 or more tanks to inert, displacement
method would be faster.

This is simply because with displacement method, ideally

close to one air change is required in one tank to bring it to
the required oxygen level.
With Dilution method it is close to 3-6 air changes.

And then there is an area in between that range of number

of tanks in which you can choose either of these methods.

2. Rate of Inert gas supply

Whatever I said in the first point (number of tanks), that was
based upon the use of ship’s Inert gas plant for supply of
inert gas.

But sometimes we do need to inert with short IG (mostly

nitrogen). This is particularly the case with chemical tankers
with no IG plant.

If the charterers require the tanks to be inerted, the IG

(nitrogen) is supplied by the shore.
In this case, to choose the inerting method not only the
number of tanks would matter but also the rate of shore IG
supply.

For example if the rate of supply is only 100 m3/Hr, even if

there are 1~2 tanks to inert, it would still need to be done
with displacement method.

Similarly, if the rate of supply is as too high, even if there

are 10 tanks to inert, it may be required to inerted with
dilution method.

Monitoring the inerting operation

You have done everything right so far. Chose the correct

method of inerting and set up all the lines correctly.

But that would not do any good if you do not correctly

monitor the inerting operation.

The monitoring need to be such that anything wrong must

able to be identified as early as  possible.

Apart from safety of the crew exposed to inert gas, there are
two main things that we need to monitor.

 Pressure inside the tank so that tank is not over-

pressurised
  Oxygen content of the tanks being inerted

There are multiple locations from where the oxygen content

of the tanks can be checked during inerting.

But it is so much important to choose the correct location for

measuring oxygen content.

For example if you are inerting with dilution method (inert

gas entering from top of the tank), then it is important that
the measurement is taken from the bottom of the tank.

In this case if you measure the oxygen content at the top of

the tank then your readings may be wrong because of inert
gas entering the tank from a nearby point.

Similarly, if you are inerting with the displacement method, it

is important to measure the oxygen content at the top of the
tank.

This is because the oxygen content in this case will be

drastically different at bottom and top of the tank.
So it is important to decide the location from which we need
to measure the oxygen content of the tank during inerting.

Oxygen content measurement points

Next we also need to be aware of the points from where the
oxygen content can be measured.

If we need to measure the oxygen content from top of the

tank, this can be done by measuring it from

 Purge pipe

 UTI Vapour lock

For the purge pipe the oxygen content is checked from the
air coming out of the purge pipe during inerting.

No, you do not need to climb up and expose yourself to the

gas coming out of the purge pipe. There is usually a point
given on the purge pipe from where you can connect the
inlet of your oxygen analyser.

On chemical tanker, sometimes there are two identical points

that are given on the purge pipe (On chemical tankers PV
valve line usually acts as purge pipe).

One of these point is for nitrogen padding from nitrogen

bottles. This point has a non return valve fitted and thus will
not give any reading if used for measuring oxygen content.
In this case, we must know and identify the point which is for
measuring the gas concentration in the tank.

We can measure the oxygen content from the UTI port

(Vapour lock) too. From here we can measure oxygen
content at the top of the tank or at the bottom of the tank.

We just need to lower the oxygen analyser inlet tube of that

length.

What to expect during monitoring oxygen

content?

We have started the inerting of the tanks.

After one hour we measure the oxygen content of the tanks.

How much reading we should expect?

If we do not know this, we may not be able to find anything

wrong that we may be doing.

Knowing what to expect would really help in this case.

For example, if the oxygen reading after one hour is much

less than we expected, the reading could be wrong.
And if the oxygen reading after one hour is much more than
we expected, we could be doing something wrong that can
be corrected at this early stage.

But the question remains, how much reading should we

expect.

It is not that difficult. Jut look at this image of displacement

method.

Let us say this is the situation after one hour.

If we measure oxygen content at this stage from the purge

pipe, what reading you would expect?
Yes, you got it. Close to 21%.

Because in displacement method, it would mostly be air that

will come out initially.

It is only when you have supplied amount of IG close to the

capacity of the tank that you would see sharp decrease in
oxygen reading of the tank.

For example let us say the capacity of your cargo tank is

2400 m3, capacity of IG plant is 3600 m3/hr and you have
opened 6 tanks for inerting with displacement method.
Which means each tank is getting IG with approx rate of
600m3/hr. In this case the tank would take approx 4 hours
for inerting to less than 8% oxygen content.

If we chcck the oxygen content in first or second hour, we

would find very less change in oxygen content.

But now that we understand, there is nothing to worry about

it.

With dilution method it is just the opposite.

In dilution method, the inert gas is  continuously getting

mixed with the air inside the tank. Which means that the
oxygen content is continuously reducing inside the tank.
So in this case, if the oxygen content of the tank is not
gradually decreasing you know there could be something
wrong

May be something like the rate of IG entering the tank is low

which is not allowing it to dilute the air at the bottom of the
tank

Remember we are measuring oxygen at the bottom of the

tank in dilution method !!!

Gas Freeing
The principle of gas freeing is not different from the inerting
that we discussed so far.

The basic difference between gas freeing asn inerting is that

in gas freeing the tank we are trying to bring it back to

 Oxygen: 20.9%

 Hydrocarbon: less than 1% of the LEL

 Toxic gases: Below its threshold exposure limit

Displacement and dilution methods are applicable for gas

freeing too.

I will discuss the process of gas freeing in detail in one of the

future blog.

Conclusion

The only way to be able to do something safely and

economically is to know the job inside out.

Otherwise it is either safe or economical.

Inerting is one such job that needs time. But if the inerting is
not done the way it should be, the time required can increase
multiple times.