Decarbonisation Technology - November 2024 Issue

Customer control room

Maximising reliability and ROI To keep tanks operating profitably throughout their entire service life, facility owners need durable, low-maintenance insulation solutions that can withstand increasingly harsh and unpredictable weather conditions. When seeking to maximise the longevity of any tank installation, particularly in coastal regions, a crucial consideration is corrosion under insulation (CUI). CUI can potentially reduce the life of a tank down from 40 to as few as 10 years, all the while damaging profitability further through the deterioration of insulation performance and the need for frequent maintenance. Standing seam insulation panels are helping to make CUI a challenge of the past with their dense structure, unique double-folded seam methodology, and seamless interlocking installation method, which removes the need for outer screws. These panels absorb far less water over their lifetime and are more resilient to even the worst weather conditions, delivering reliable and long-lasting insulation performance ( nvent/Raychem, 2024b ). Case study 1: Self-regulating heating cable for process temperature maintenance and Trac-Loc panels for seamless tank insulation A major client was expanding its biodiesel terminal in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in order to store B100, a pure biodiesel product. As this has a higher gel point than regular diesel, it required a more precise temperature. The customer’s mission-critical objective was to find a complete heat management solution for the piping that

with commodity prices and market demand, site owners also need pipe heat tracing circuits that can be reconfigured quickly to accommodate any type of critical liquid. The most advanced heat-tracing controllers deliver flexibility via a combination of tried-and- tested line sensing temperature monitoring and more recently introduced ‘true power’ control. This feature enables the heat tracing system to measure voltage and current in real-time and to adjust the power output to match the precise temperature requirements of any chemical “ The most advanced heat-tracing controllers deliver flexibility via a combination of tried-and-tested line sensing temperature monitoring and more recently introduced ‘true power’ control ” product – both for storage and transportation. This high degree of accuracy represents an improvement in the performance of more traditional heat tracing controllers, minimising the risk of excessive power use while also allowing for greater cable standardisation across the entire installation. This feature also offers facility managers the benefits of variable voltage capabilities. It allows them to better manage differences between the initial design and the system as built and ensure critical pipe infrastructures can be quickly and accurately configured to transport any chemical fluid.