Tank Degassing Safety - Know the Facts and Eliminate the risk!

Safety, Exposure and Environmental Concerns.

Degassing of tanks and vessels of toxic chemicals such as, toluene, benzene, gasoline, hydrogen sulfide, and other regulated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into an uncontrolled area has serious safety, exposure and environmental concerns.?Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and will find low pockets to rest.?These vapors can often be an explosive mixture with the right mixture of air and flammable vapor to ignite.??Degassing safely is critical to an incident free tank, vessel or sphere turnaround or maintenance project.

The use of Envent’s Certified Degassing Unit

Since controlling these vapor is the norm in most areas now, using a certified degassing unit which can include a thermal oxidizer, combustion unit, or mobile scrubber, the informed customer will need to ensure both the operation and the vapor control are performed safely. This is the most dangerous work in the plant.?Envent has provided cost-effective degassing services for petrochemical facilities and refineries across the United States. When you contact Envent our engineering team will evaluate your project and create a customized solution to address your specific degassing or vapor control need.?Our engineers are experts in navigating the environmental regulations that differ from region to region and can ensure that your degassing project is 100% compliant.

Extensive Training and Experience

Before selecting a contractor to handle your flammable vapors, be sure to select a contractor that has extensive training and experience.?Operators should fully understand proper classification for flammable and combustible liquids, grounding and bonding, static discharge potentials, the hazards and mitigation methods for pyrophoric iron, operational issue controls, Equipment has been HAZOP’d, placement of equipment, coordination with cleaner while they are removing residual product, water washing and external environmental factors.

A few of the elements from Envent’s Checklist include:

• Job Walk – Knowledge of the site, location and surroundings.
• Planning and Preparing – A Safe Work Execution Plan
• Mitigation of Risks – Address risks and mitigate them.
• Job Safety Analysis – involving safe execution of mobilization and setup.
• Compliance Testing Plan – Permits, instrument calibration and testing
• Test Atmosphere – Atmospheric testing plan.
• Grounding & Bonding – Our team ensures that bonding and grounding are implemented to eliminate any potential source of sparks.
• Reporting & Communication. Communicate hazards, raise the flag and report up when needed.
• Provide compliance report upon project completion.

Owners must remember that bringing a tank, vessel, sphere or barge through the explosive range is dangerous and only specialized contractors should be used. Remember to select a contractor that has a high safety rating as well as a superior environmental compliance record.?Most importantly, Experience Matters!?Laser like focus is what you want on this hazardous operation.?A specialist is what is needed.?Someone who does this 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year and is not distracted by other operations.?The risk of a fire, explosion or Notice of Violation is too great of a risk to trust to a subpar service provider.?

Check your contractors rating here:?ISNETworld Rating.

ELIMINATE EXPOSURE TO EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS AND NEIGHBORS.

Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and when they are blown out of the tank using a fan blower, personnel in the area are exposed. The 8 hour Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for benzene and gasoline is 1 ppmv and 300 ppmv, respectively.?At 1000 feet from a manway, the benzene concentration will easily exceed these limits, therefore, in many communities fence line monitoring is now required.?

Call us today at 888-997-9465 or request more information with the link below to see how Envent can help with your degassing needs!

Request more information today!

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