Tank farms are used for the storage of highly flammable and explosive substances; Consequently, preventive fireplace protection is of main importance. When rehabilitation of such a tank farm is planned, contractors usually suggest extensive – and thus expensive – measures. A fire-protection solution developed by TÜV SÜD demonstrates that an equivalent stage of security can be reached with a far more cost-effective solution. A central position in harm limitation is performed by early fireplace detection using thermographic cameras.
Numerous tank farms throughout Germany retailer petrol, diesel, kerosene or liquefied petroleum fuel (LPG). In contact with air, these extremely flammable substances can kind explosive mixtures. Given this, tank farms require special measures in the subject of preventive hearth protection. If rehabilitation of fire-protection methods becomes essential at an older tank farm, far-reaching measures ought to be taken, not only by means of precaution but in addition to exclude potential liability risks. And but not each measure that is technologically possible can be necessary in case of a rehabilitation, as may be seen from the example of a tank farm in Bavaria, Germany.
The tank farm is positioned at a basin of a river port in Bavaria. The a part of the tank farm in need of rehabilitation covers 24 tanks with a storage quantity of between 600 and a pair of,000 cubic metres. The tank farm is used for intermediate storage of highly flammable fluids with flame factors of < 21 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the German hazardous substances legislation. In hearth inspections and on-site inspections after incidents, the inspectors had recognized main non-conformities in the fire-extinguishing system. To substitute the outdated and non-conforming system, an engineering agency submitted an in depth list of measures. These measures fully satisfied all regulatory necessities but represented a very cost-intensive solution, requiring a full rehabilitation utilizing conventional extinguishing systems. For the tank-farm operating firm, the prices of implementing these measures would have added up to 1.7 million euros.
In fire safety, the challenge lies in connecting well-founded technological information and authorized know-how. In practice this means harmonising reasonable engineering services and legal functions to obtain a cohesive, economically possible and easily implemented fire-protection concept.
Alternative answer developed by TÜV SÜD
At the operating company’s request, TÜV SÜD’s third-party consultants validated the individual measures and the cost-effectiveness of the rehabilitation plan submitted by the engineering firm. Owing to the massive number of deficiencies identified within the tank farm, the specialists first prepared a list of priorities with the measures essential to fulfil the safety necessities and obtain the protection aims. They arrived at the conclusion that not the entire proposed measures really wanted to be implemented. Starting from this discovering, they then drew up an alternative fire-protection concept that might in the end cut back the projected costs by one third.
TÜV SÜD’s rehabilitation plan included the fire-protection infrastructure already in place at the tank farm, such as a non-automatic foam extinguishing system with a total foaming-agent supply of 10,500 litres distributed throughout two tanks, two submerged pumps in the port basin with a pump capacity of one hundred eighty m3 per hour to make sure water supply for fireplace combating and sprinkling the shells and the roofs of the tanks, manual triggering of the shut-off valves and a transformer station powered by the regional power provider. The feed-in of emergency power was effected by the local skilled hearth division.
The engineering firm, against this, had planned to exchange the entire fire-extinguishing system. They needed to install three mobile extinguishing-agent distribution techniques in container form for distant controlled sprinkling and foaming of the tanks. This resolution would have required the installation of new electrical, operational and management systems as properly as new pipe routes connecting the extinguishing-agent distribution techniques with the fire-fighting techniques in the tank fields. The prices for the three extinguishing-agent distribution methods in container type alone would have added as a lot as around 1.2 million euros.
Incipient hearth fighting scenario with intact power supply and free entry to the tank farm.
Implementation of three packages of measures
The different rehabilitation concept developed by TÜV SÜD, which also met the requirements of the Bavarian Building Code (BayBo [1]), provided for three essential packages of measures to achieve the protection and safety objectives.
First, set up of a fully computerized infrared measuring system made by DIAS Infrared to make sure early hearth detection. The system’s seven thermographic cameras are put in on pan-tilt units. They detect changes in temperature at the surfaces of the tanks made of various supplies and situated in the space monitored by the cameras, before these adjustments in temperature may cause a fireplace. As the cameras can transfer, the areas to be monitored could be divided into sectors. The cameras then strategy these sectors cyclically in sequence. To shield the cameras against external influences, they are housed in ventilated and heated weatherproof enclosures (Fig. 1). Monitoring focuses totally on the safety units of the tanks, pumps and motors and on the filling techniques on the tank-farm premises. The control room on the tank farm and the local professional hearth department are notified instantly as soon because the temperature exceeds a certain limit. The measure bundle additionally consists of remote triggering of the extinguishing-agent supply from the control centre and automation of the safety units.
Incipient fireplace combating state of affairs with energy loss where access to the tank farm is blocked by a cargo train.
In addition, it covers rehabilitation of the sprinkler and foam-extinguisher system. In this context, TÜV SÜD’s solution supplied for replacement of the leaking and corroded pipe sections with new pipes and for installation of three fastened foam-extinguishing techniques within the type of foam screens to fight incipient fires immediately. In addition, a cell foam monitor was deliberate as a backup.
A third focus area concerns safeguarding the facility provide required for early hearth detection and hearth fighting. According to the regional power provider, power outages may have a duration of a minimal of half-hour. Given this, the tank-farm needed an unbiased power supply system that was in a position to make sure power supply for at least 2 hours. The specialists relied on battery buffering and a diesel operated emergency energy unit to solve this problem.
เกจวัดแรงดัน10bar should guarantee achievement of the safety aims
Protection objectives and equivalent safety level reached
The fire-protection answer introduced by TÜV SÜD was agreed with each the tank farm’s operating company, the municipal authority and the professional fireplace department. The three measure packages also complied with the required safety aims and the protection levels. And finally, they proved far cheaper than the solution initially proposed. Since rehabilitation of the tank farm, early fire detection in conjunction with improved fire-protection infrastructure has turn out to be a central a half of injury limitation. Since the rehabilitation idea was applied, the tank-farm’s operating company – working with the professional fireplace division – has been capable of effectively counteract all possible scenarios of incipient hearth successfully and at an early stage, even in instances of energy loss or when access to the tank farm is blocked (see Figures 2 and 3).
For more information, go to www.tuev-sued.de/is or www.dias-infrared.de
Classification under the Bavarian Building Code (Bayerische Bauordnung, BayBo)
Tank farms are installations of a special kind and use (special structures). Their operation involves the handling and storing of highly explosive or flammable substances. Protection measures and security precautions thus not solely fall inside the working company’s accountability however are also a matter of public interest. Given this, the BayBO stipulates requirements together with material requirements which, as “General clauses of fire protection”, assist to support the protection goals outlined in Article 12. However, in accordance with article three (1) deviations from the technical constructing laws are attainable if an alternative resolution is discovered that’s equivalent by method of fulfilling the overall requirements in paragraph 1. In other words, the necessities laid down within the Building Code are deemed complied with if the commonly recognised guidelines of architecture and technology are fulfilled.
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