Cleaning of oil tanks

Crude oil is stored in tanks. Over time, a layer of hydrocarbons and inorganic contaminants builds up at the bottom of these tanks, reducing the usable volume. The tank must be completely emptied and cleaned before a safety inspection, prior to the service or repair works. Depending on the size of the tank, between 1,000 and 5,000 tons of sludge remains to be disposed of. Application of our technology allows most of the oil to be recovered, the water is sent into the sewage line and the solid residue is transferred for further processing.

Advantages of using a centrifuge to process sediment in oil reservoirs over the manual method:

• Minimal emissions into the atmosphere;
• Minimal time of personnel presence inside the tanks;
• Extraction of 90-95% of the oil contained in bottom sediments;
• Automated and continuous production even with varying oil sludge composition.

Reduction of production costs due to:

• Secondary use of the recovered oil as commercial oil. This provides a return on a large portion of the funds spent on tank cleaning;
• Reduced costs for transportation and deposition of sediments. The average cleaning time per reservoir can range from 2 to 8 weeks, depending on its volume.

Customers of this cleaning technology in Kazakhstan:

• Ozenmunaigas JSC