Improvement of preventive fireplace protection at a tank farm

Tank farms are used for the storage of extremely flammable and explosive substances; Consequently, preventive fireplace protection is of main importance. When rehabilitation of such a tank farm is planned, contractors typically recommend in depth – and thus pricey – measures. A fire-protection answer developed by TÜV SÜD demonstrates that an equivalent level of security may additionally be reached with a a lot more cost-effective solution. A central role in injury limitation is played by early hearth detection utilizing thermographic cameras.
Numerous tank farms throughout Germany retailer petrol, diesel, kerosene or liquefied petroleum fuel (LPG). In contact with air, these highly flammable substances can form explosive mixtures. Given this, tank farms require special measures within the field of preventive hearth protection. If rehabilitation of fire-protection methods becomes necessary at an older tank farm, far-reaching measures should be taken, not only by means of precaution but in addition to exclude attainable liability dangers. And yet not every measure that’s technologically possible can be needed in case of a rehabilitation, as can be seen from the example of a tank farm in Bavaria, Germany.
The tank farm is situated at a basin of a river port in Bavaria. The part of the tank farm in need of rehabilitation covers 24 tanks with a storage quantity of between 600 and 2,000 cubic metres. The tank farm is used for intermediate storage of highly flammable fluids with flame points of < 21 levels Celsius, as outlined within the German hazardous substances legislation. In hearth inspections and on-site inspections after incidents, the inspectors had identified major non-conformities within the fire-extinguishing system. To replace the outdated and non-conforming system, an engineering agency submitted an in depth record of measures. These measures totally satisfied all regulatory requirements however represented a really cost-intensive resolution, requiring a full rehabilitation utilizing conventional extinguishing techniques. For the tank-farm working firm, the costs of implementing these measures would have added as a lot as 1.7 million euros.
In fireplace safety, the problem lies in connecting well-founded technological data and authorized know-how. In practice this means harmonising reasonable engineering providers and legal functions to obtain a cohesive, economically possible and easily applied fire-protection idea.
Alternative solution developed by TÜV SÜD
At the working company’s request, TÜV SÜD’s third-party consultants validated the person measures and the cost-effectiveness of the rehabilitation plan submitted by the engineering agency. Owing to the big variety of deficiencies identified within the tank farm, the consultants first prepared an inventory of priorities with the measures necessary to fulfil the safety necessities and obtain the protection aims. They arrived at the conclusion that not all of the proposed measures truly wanted to be carried out. Starting from this finding, they then drew up another fire-protection idea that may finally reduce 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 complete foaming-agent provide of 10,500 litres distributed throughout two tanks, two submerged pumps within the port basin with a pump capability of one hundred eighty m3 per hour to ensure water supply for hearth combating and sprinkling the shells and the roofs of the tanks, handbook triggering of the shut-off valves and a transformer station powered by the regional vitality supplier. The feed-in of emergency power was effected by the local professional hearth division.
The engineering agency, against this, had planned to switch the entire fire-extinguishing system. They needed to put in three cellular extinguishing-agent distribution methods in container kind for distant controlled sprinkling and foaming of the tanks. This answer would have required the installation of new electrical, operational and control methods in addition to new pipe routes connecting the extinguishing-agent distribution methods with the fire-fighting methods within the tank fields. The costs for the three extinguishing-agent distribution systems in container type alone would have added up to around 1.2 million euros.
pressure gauge ไท วัสดุ preventing situation with intact power supply and free access to the tank farm.
Implementation of three packages of measures
The alternative rehabilitation concept developed by TÜV SÜD, which additionally met the requirements of the Bavarian Building Code (BayBo [1]), supplied for 3 important packages of measures to achieve the safety and security goals.
First, installation of a completely computerized infrared measuring system made by DIAS Infrared to make sure early fireplace detection. The system’s seven thermographic cameras are installed on pan-tilt items. They detect adjustments in temperature at the surfaces of the tanks made of different supplies and located within the area monitored by the cameras, before these modifications in temperature may cause a fireplace. As the cameras can transfer, the areas to be monitored could be divided into sectors. The cameras then approach these sectors cyclically in sequence. To protect the cameras against exterior influences, they are housed in ventilated and heated weatherproof enclosures (Fig. 1). Monitoring focuses primarily on the safety gadgets of the tanks, pumps and motors and on the filling systems on the tank-farm premises. The control room at the tank farm and the local skilled fireplace division are notified immediately as quickly as the temperature exceeds a certain restrict. The measure package deal additionally includes distant triggering of the extinguishing-agent provide from the control centre and automation of the security devices.
Incipient fireplace preventing situation with energy loss the place access to the tank farm is blocked by a cargo prepare.
In addition, it covers rehabilitation of the sprinkler and foam-extinguisher system. In this context, TÜV SÜD’s solution supplied for alternative of the leaking and corroded pipe sections with new pipes and for installation of three fixed foam-extinguishing techniques in the form of foam displays to battle incipient fires instantly. In addition, a mobile foam monitor was deliberate as a backup.
A third focus space concerns safeguarding the ability supply required for early fireplace detection and hearth preventing. According to the regional energy provider, power outages may have a length of at least 30 minutes. Given this, the tank-farm wanted an independent power supply system that was ready to ensure power supply for no much less than 2 hours. The experts relied on battery buffering and a diesel operated emergency energy unit to unravel this problem.
Fire safety should guarantee achievement of the safety goals
Protection goals and equal security degree reached
The fire-protection solution introduced by TÜV SÜD was agreed with each the tank farm’s working firm, the municipal authority and the skilled hearth department. The three measure packages also complied with the required safety aims and the safety levels. And ultimately, they proved far less expensive than the answer initially proposed. Since rehabilitation of the tank farm, early fire detection in conjunction with improved fire-protection infrastructure has become a central part of injury limitation. Since the rehabilitation idea was applied, the tank-farm’s working company – working with the professional hearth department – has been in a position to successfully counteract all possible eventualities of incipient fire successfully and at an early stage, even in cases of power loss or when entry to the tank farm is blocked (see Figures 2 and 3).
For extra info, go to www.tuev-sued.de/is or www.dias-infrared.de
Classification beneath the Bavarian Building Code (Bayerische Bauordnung, BayBo)
Tank farms are installations of a particular type and use (special structures). Their operation includes the dealing with and storing of extremely explosive or flammable substances. Protection measures and security precautions thus not solely fall inside the operating company’s responsibility however are additionally a matter of public interest. Given this, the BayBO stipulates requirements including material necessities which, as “General clauses of fireplace protection”, help to assist the protection objectives defined in Article 12. However, according to article three (1) deviations from the technical building laws are attainable if an alternative resolution is discovered that’s equivalent by means of fulfilling the overall necessities in paragraph 1. In other words, the necessities laid down within the Building Code are deemed complied with if the commonly recognised rules of structure and expertise are fulfilled.
Share