Tank Farm Services

An intelligent pig survey enables the operator responsible for the integrity of the pipeline, to assess the failure risk due to metal loss corrosion using the findings of the inspection survey including internal geometry and distance. However, many tank farm lines cannot be inspected using intelligent pig technology. Our in-house developed Ultrasonic Inline Inspection (ILI) tool was designed specifically for inspecting “difficult to pig” product pipelines with diameters ranging from 3 to 56 inch.

Tank farms and import/export terminals have lines that were never designed for pigging or intelligent pigging and most don’t have conventional pigging facilities such as pig traps. They may also have unbarred equal tees, complex bends, mitre bends and bends of less than 1.5D radius.  Our specially designed tools are the perfect solution for the inspection of tank farm pipelines, we also keep in stock locally produced portable PER certified pig traps for those lines which were never designed to be pigged or inspected.

Intelligent Pigging of Pipelines

Pipeline Displacement

Cleaning Furnace

Legislation dictates that hydrocarbon storage tanks have to be inspected at regular intervals. In order to inspect, they need to be cleaned to provide internal access for inspection personnel. Many tanks also contain heavy residues or even sludge as many liquids tends to separate into components of differing densities. Sludge that sinks to the tank bottom is a combination of hydrocarbons, gas, sediments, sands and water. When sludge builds up inside a tank, it reduces the storage capacity and the installation’s ability to function properly – and that reduces profits. Sludge not only reduces storage capacity but also accelerates corrosion, disrupts maintenance operations, and causes damage when landing the tank roof.

Our online tank sludge profiler uses an acoustic sensor capable of scanning tank contents with the greatest precision. After scanning the tank, we process the gathered data to calculate sludge volume and generate three-dimensional views of sludge distribution. Our survey system measures the tank sludge volume with an accuracy of up to 95%. Based on information describing the sludge properties and distribution, we can determine the best strategy to de-sludge and inspect your tank. Accurate tank profiling leaves you with no doubt about whether to invest further in desludging, inspection or maintenance projects.

Tank Profiling Process

Projects involving human presence increase safety and environmental risks. Traditional tank bottom inspection technologies require tanks to be offline during inspection. They must be drained, cleaned, degassed and ventilated – all of which cost the tank owners considerable revenues. By using our OTIS robot (ATEX Approved), the tank bottom inspection takes significantly less time. The OTIS robotic tank bottom inspector series allows for inspection according to the API 653 standards while your tank remains online