Abstract
Petroleum emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds, VOC) have deleterious effects on the environment and certain factors increase the volumes of these emissions. Identifying and minimising such factors is an efficient means of loss control management. In this paper therefore, the effects, quantity and most significant loss sources (and/or factors) as well as ways of minimising these emissions are identified and outlined.
Fixed roof tank losses were observed to be exponentially higher than floating roof tanks. The most significant loss source was vapour volume for fixed roof tank and wind effects for floating roof tanks with internal floating roof tanks recording the lowest emissions. The most interesting discovery was, higher ambient temperatures resulted in higher vapour pressure (Gay-Lussac's Law) and density values.
This paper introduces practical and quantitative effects of meteorological factors as well as tank design on emissions in Tema, Ghana. All calculations are based on equations specified in AP-42 chapter 7. Data used include meteorological data from Ghana Meteorological Agency, tank design data and daily product levels for 2015 from a tank farm. The effects of wind on emission in withdrawal loss is excluded for internal floating roof tank and so also was deck seam losses for the welded external floating roof tank. All calculations are explicit, practical and detailed for easy understanding and reproduction.
