To ensure a proper clean of a tank larger than 60,000 litres, manned entry or robotic tank cleaning is Eurotank Environmental’s recommendation.
A customer site in East Renfrewshire, Scotland had been suffering blocked filters from an unleaded tank, which is unusual, so Eurotank suggested a manned entry tank clean plus replacement of tank lid gaskets, which were badly degraded, to ensure the tank was tight.
Eurotank Group technical sales manager, Greg Wyatt, explains why manned entry was necessary: “Tanks that are larger than 60,000 litres have reinforcement rings creating a lip inside the tank. If you were to remotely clean the tank, you would hit the ring, so to ensure the tank is cleaned properly, we do a confined space entry with breathing apparatus, using a hot wash jetter unit and high-powered ADR vacuum tanker. We can also use one of our ATEX tank cleaning robots.”
The gaskets on the Atlas tank lids were heavily degraded and needed replacing with new Viton gaskets, which are made from a synthetic rubber polymer and are more compatible with higher contents of ethanol in today’s fuels. The ethanol content causes standard rubber gaskets to melt.
While Viton gaskets are more expensive than the standard rubber, they will mitigate against any future corrosion.
