Level Measurement Solutions for Finished Refinery Product Storage
Once the petroleum refining process is complete, the results are stored at the plant until they are ready to be transported and sold. Finished refinery products are stored in tanks with capacities that often exceed 100,000 gallons. Some of the largest tanks store motor gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oils, and LPG. Marketed products also include feedstocks for textiles, tires, pharmaceuticals and plastics. Finished products must remain inside tanks without evaporation, contamination or accidents in order to protect the integrity of the products as well as the safety of the plant.
Magnetrol® has produced an applications brochure for the petroleum refining industry detailing level measurement challenges and solutions for each step of the refining process. This blog post is the final installment of an occasional series exploring each application in detail.
Level Measurement Challenges and Considerations
Tank monitoring is typically accomplished by products utilizing buoyancy, pressure, servo-driven, or radar technologies. Tanks may be provided with automatic overflow control and alarm systems. Automated tank gauging networks can also be a vital part of tank farm architecture. Today, thousands of tanks can be linked in a network offering enhanced data acquisition, field calibration and remote diagnostics.
Level instruments for storing refinery products must be able to monitor these large networks of tanks with accuracy and minimal downtime. Precision is also key, in order to avoid overfill, explosions, and other accidents. Level instrumentation should be able to withstand the corrosive nature of some of the petroleum products.
Level Measurement Solutions
MAGNETROL has produced level measurement solutions for the storage of finished refinery products:
- For point level:
Model A15 displacer-actuated level switch - For continuous level:
Eclipse® Model 706 guided wave radar or Pulsar® Model R86 non-contact radar transmitter - For visual indication:
Atlas or Aurora® magnetic level indicators can be supplied with switches or transmitters
More Information
For more information on level measurement solutions for finished refinery product storage and other petroleum refining applications,download the petroleum refining brochure.
