By Ewart Cox Managing Director, Assentech Sales Limited
Breather vents in tank farms are regulated by two international standards. However, only a fraction of the manufacturers test to these standards. This in turn has led to leakages at tank farms.
Most of the UK population live in towns and cities and often are close to industrial activity including bulk chemical/petrol storage and biogas generation. We are lucky to have
a legal infrastructure that ensures all UK operators follow strict safety and environmental guidelines intended to keep us safe but there is always room for improvement.
Our company passionately believes that huge reductions in emissions from tank farms can be achieved using best available techniques and reference to international standards. The speed of change and increasing rate of adop-tion of new, cleaner technologies is literally breathtaking.
For example, Assentech has been developing techniques to measure and reduce emissions from tank farms for over a decade. The key is keeping volatile compounds inside the tanks but allowing them to breathe when required such as filling/emptying and fluctuations in temperature. At all other times breather valves should remain closed with minimal leaks.
These valves have immense flow capacity so if not functioning or set correctly can leak hundreds of tons of invisible GWP emissions along with company profits into the atmosphere.
