Paper: Environmental, Personnel Property Protection Through Proper Storage Tank Vent System Design Maintenance

Every year petroleum production storage tanks are ruptured, exploded or imploded due to improper vent system design and maintenance. The losses incurred from these accidents are considerable. Additionally, federal, state and local air quality regulations are becoming more stringent and new design considerations are required to meet these standards. This paper reviews vent system design criteria, explosive gas-air mixtures and offers some operational and system safeguards that can significantly reduce the risk of loss due to improper vent system design and maintenance. The tanks considered in this paper are lease tank battery installations as described in API RP 12Rl. The design recommendations are based on API standards, field experience, lab testing and an economical approach to current standards.