Closed vapor control system for the ullage spaces of an oil tank

Details Closed vapor control system for the ullage spaces of an oil tank Closed vapor control system for the ullage spaces of an oil tank

1992-03-02

1994-06-28

Swinehart, Edwin L.

Ships

Building

Freighters

114 72, B63B 2512

Patent

active

053237242

ABSTRACT:
Vapors, typically volatile organic compounds, emitted from a vaporizable liquid, typically oil, that is within a tank, typically a ship's tank, are (i) compressed, and (ii) stored in a reservoir that is closed to the atmosphere. The (i) compression typically transpires in and by a series/parallel array of pumps, rotary or reciprocating compressors, to a storage pressure of 150+ PSIA. The several million cubic feet ullage volume of a typical 200,000 ton oil tanker is typically compressed over a few days during and/or after loading, and stored in a typically spherical gas storage tank of some 10-20 feet in diameter. Stored gases are returned to the ullage spaces during offloading of the oil tanks in a closed system. This emission control by vapor recovery is interoperative with related systems and methods (i) to avoid spillage of oil due to the rupture of a ship's tank, and/or (ii) to make and maintain a mixture of gases and vapors within the tank's ullage space to be non-explosive and non-flammable. The first parallel system creates and dynamically maintains a partial vacuum in the tank's ullage space--even as all gases and vapors that are evacuated in order to do so are processed into the emission control system. The second parallel system injects an inert gas into the ullage spaces above the oil in the tanks--even though some of this inert gas becomes part of the compressed and stored gas and vapor mixture, rendering this compressed mixture itself non-explosive and non-flammable.

REFERENCES:
patent: 3240179 (1966-03-01), Van Ranst
patent: 3272168 (1966-09-01), Donohue et al.
patent: 3285711 (1966-11-01), Stanford

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