Crude Oil Storage Tanks

Dr. Vikas Mahto

Professor
Department of Petroleum Engineering
IIT(ISM). Dhanbad-826004

Crude oil untreated and unrefined are stored in tanks for shipment to other locations or
processing into finished products.
There are three main types of tanks used to store petroleum or petroleum products in the
oilfields:
1. Fixed Roof Tank used for diesel, kerosene, catalytic cracker feedstock, and residual fuel
oil
2. Floating Roof Tank used for crude oil, gasoline, and naphtha.
3. Cylindrical Bullet and Spherical Tanks used for liquefied petroleum gas
1. Fixed Roof Tanks
Fixed-roof tanks are generally used to store products that do not readily vaporize at ambient or
stored temperature conditions. For instance, fixed-roof tanks can be used to handle non-volatile
products such as gasoil, lubricating oils, asphalt and fuel oil. Regarding emission control, fixed-
roof ranks without vapor recovery facilities are restricted to materials with a true vapor pressure
(TVP) of less than 1.5 psia at the tank operating temperature.

Figure 1: Diagram of a fixed roof tank

Some primary features of fixed roof storage tanks include:
• Sampling and gauging hatch – Sometimes referred to as a thief hatch, this is necessary to
retrieve samples of contents for analysis. It is also used as an access point for a dip-stick to gauge
the level in the tank and to check level measuring instruments.
• Vapor vent – The vapor vent is an essential feature of a tank and is often called a breather
valve. Without a properly functioning vapor vent, tanks are subject to damage from the buildup
of pressure when filling. They also are at risk of imploding from the vacuum created during
emptying.
• Relief valve – Relief valves are designed to relieve excess pressure should it rise above the safe
operating limit.
• Inert gas blanket – Inert gas blankets are used to displace air that may form an explosive or
flammable mixture with vapors from volatile liquids in the tank. Nitrogen is often used for this
purpose.
• Drain– Drains are used to remove any water that separates from the product. They also are used
to empty the tank during cleaning operations.
• Fire protection – Tanks are often fitted with a ring of nozzles that spray foam into and over the
surface of the tank in the event of a fire.

• Earth connection – Static electricity tends to form during filling and emptying of the tank. This
constitutes a potential explosion or fire hazard, especially when handling flammable liquids. An
earth connection prevents the buildup of static electricity.
• Manhole – Manholes can be located on the roof of the vessel or at ground level to facilitate
access to the inside of the tank for inspection, cleaning and maintenance.

2. Floating Roof Storage Tanks

Many tanks are designed with a roof that floats on top of the liquid. The floating roof moves up
and down as the level of liquid in the tank changes during filling, emptying or with ambient
temperature variation.
A floating roof minimizes the amount of vapor between it and the liquid, leaving little space for
evaporation and reducing vapor losses. In many older tanks, the floating roof is merely a large
flat disc covering the surface of the liquid. However, in recent years, the design of floating roofs
has substantially improved to minimize vapor loss.
Floating-roof tanks are utilized when the TVP of the stored liquid at operating temperature is less
than 11.1 psia. For TVPS greater than 11.1 psia, a medium-pressure storage tank or vapor
recovery system is mandatory. Floating-roof tanks are preferred to store products susceptible to
high clectric charge due to friction such as light products, kerosine and crude oil.

There are two main types of floating roof storage tanks in use today. They are:
• The pontoon roof – Pontoons are closed compartments that are fitted to the outer edge of a
central plate under the roof, which allow the roof to float on top of the liquid.

Figure 2: Diagram of Pontoon type floating roof tank

• The double-deck roof – As the name suggests, this design incorporates two decks of steel
plates separated by compartments covering the entire surface area of the decks. This provides
added stability and is advantageous because the lower deck in closest proximity to the liquid is
not exposed to the sun’s rays, which considerably reduces vapor losses.
 Figure 2: Diagram of External floating roof tank (double deck)

Two more design of floating roof tanks are also available and these are as follows:
Domed External Floating Roof Tank
Domed external floating roof tank is typically an external floating roof tank that has been retrofit
with a domed fixed roof. This type of tank is to an internal floating roof tank with a welded deck
and a self supporting fixed roof.
 Figure 4: Domed External Floating Roof Tank

Internal Floating Roof Tank

Internal floating roof tanks are used for liquids with low flash-points (i.e. gasoline, methanol).
These tanks are cone roof tanks with a floating roof inside which travels up and down along with
the liquid level. This floating roof traps the vapor from low flash-point fuels. This tank design
was developed in the mid-1950s to provide protection of the floating roof from elements,
including lightning strikes. The tank vapor space, which is located above the floating roof and
below the fixed roof, includes circulation vents to allow natural ventilation, thus reducing
accumulation of product vapors and mitigating the formation of a combustible mixture
 Figure 5: Internal Floating Roof Tank

Floating roof storage tanks share many of the features as fixed roof tanks, with some notable
differences:
• Access ladder – The access ladder extends over the top and down the inside of the tank. As the
floating roof moves up and down, the internal ladder slides back and forth on a track.
• Seal – A strip of flexible, rubberized material is used to provide a seal between the rim of the
floating roof and the tank shell to reduce vapor leakage.
• Water drain – The roof slopes slightly to a well in its center. Rainwater runs into this water trap
and is drained to the outside of the tank via a flexible pipe.
• Roof supports – Support legs are fitted underneath the roof to leave a space when the tank is
empty. This enables access for cleaning and maintenance.

3. Cylindrical Bullet or Spherical Tanks

Bullet tanks are sphere and flat-shaped industrial storage tanks used mostly in large plants. These
types of tanks are usually preferred over the other types to store liquefied gases. LPG containing
propane ,butane or mixture of propane and butane. LPG stores under high pressure in storage
tanks. These tanks are mainly of spherical or cylindrical shape. These spherical and cylindrical
shapes are safe and strong structures to store LPG gas. These shapes are help to control leakage
problem of LPG

Figures 6: Diagram of Cylindrical Bullet and Spherical Tanks

Comparison between LPG Sphere and LPG Cylindrical Bullet Tanks.
 To store large volume of LPG Spheres are more effective as compared to LPG cylindrical
bullet.
 LPG Sphere construction takes more time as compared to LPG cylindrical bullet.
 LPG Spheres takes less space to store LPG as compared to LPG Cylindrical bullet.
 To store limited LPG, cylindrical bullets are best compared to LPG Sphere.
 The chances of collapse of structure are more in LPG Sphere while LPG Cylindrical
Bullet safe in this case.
 LPG Mounded Bullet can be moved or relocated but LPG Sphere cannot move.
 Maintenance of LPG Mounded Bullet is safer as compared to LPG Sphere.