EFFECTS OF OUTER SURFACE PAINT COLOR ON CRUDE OIL EVAPORATIVE LOSS FROM THE KHARK ISLAND STORAGE TANKS

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to determine crude oil evaporation rates from external floating storage tanks in the Khark Island and to study the effects of its outer surface paint on the losses. In this study, the temperature distribution within the crude oil storage was calculated by employing numerical modeling and then the effects of outer surface paint color on the tank’s temperature has been investigated. The research performed the validation of the numerical modeling against the measured values of the storage tank’s temperature at different times during a given day, when reasonable agreements were observed. The API AP-42 standard was employed to estimate the evaporation loss from storage tanks. The results show that the annual evaporation loss from all Khark Island storage tanks is of 6,800 barrels, when the outer surface has light color paint. The total loss would be of 13,200 barrels for the case that utilized dark color. This indicates a difference in total evaporation loss of 6,400 barrels per year, when the outer surface painting color varied.