Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG)

Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Storage

Multipole Projects contracted to Resonant Environmental Technologies when performing the Basic Engineering of a LPG Storage Facility for their client. The LPG Storage Facility consisted of two horizontal storage bullets with an LPG capacity of 25 tonne each, and had to be filled on a monthly basis by a LPG road tanker. The engineering was performed in January 2017.

Below is an extraction of the aspects being addressed during Basic Engineering:

• Commissioning Procedure

• Start-up Procedure

• Shut-down Procedure

• Abnormal Operation Scenarios

• Maintenance Procedures

LPG Bulk Storage

LPG Unloading

Multipole Projects contracted to BFluor when a Study on the engineering, safety, operability and economic implications of a tie-in into an offshore LPG unloading line in Saldanha was performed. This study was done in December 2014.

The assessment of the proposed pipeline tie-in had been carried out under these main criteria:

• Design Implications
• Risk – Operational Risk and Safety Risk
• Operational Review
• Maintenance and Integrity Management Review

Below is an extraction of the contents of the Study Report:

• High-level LPG System Description for the Unloading & Storage Facility

• Review of other Technical Reports on the Proposed Tie-in

• LPG International Best Practice

• Best Practice Questions and Answers for LPG Unloading
• Summary of International Best Practice for LPG Unloading

• Technical Assessment

• Design Implications
• Transfer Pipeline Design Features
• Spray Load Technology
• Unloading Pipeline Design Parameters

• Risk Review

  • Start-to-End Pipeline System
  • LPG Transfer Responsibility
  • Contamination
  • Process Safety
  • Environmental Impact Assessment and Risk Assessments

• Operational Review

  • Maintenance and Integrity Management Review
  • Pigging

• Assessment of the proposed Tie-in

  • Comparison between the proposed Tie-in and best practice for LPG Transfer
  • Comparison between the proposed Tie-in and the standard Access Points

LPG Unloading & Storage

Multipole Projects is consulting to Metka Engineering in commissioning and troubleshooting the LPG Unloading & Storage Facility in Tema, Accra, in Ghana. This is a new facility, part of the Bridge Power Project, supplying LPG to the power generation plant.

The unloading pipeline is approximately 11 km long from the jetty area to the LPG tankfarm. Commissioning included the Jetty Piping System where the marine unloading arm is connected to the ship, the Booster Pump Station where 300 m³.h^-1 centrifugal pumps are used to overcome the pipeline head and backpressure from the storage spheres, the Inter-Tank Transfer Pump Station at the tankfarm as well as the LPG Vapour Recovery Unit.

Multipole Projects performed the following activities:

• Unloaded four LPG Carrier Ships and compiled commissioning reports.
• Flare design for LPG release.
• Calculation Model and Instructions for Line-Blow of LPG Unloading Pipeline.
• Study and Recommendations on the environmental heating of the 11 km long LPG Unloading Pipeline.
• Calculation Model for Electrical Heat Tracing of LPG Pipelines.
• Developed a List of Requirements for the ship prior to LPG unloading.
• Compiled a Plant Performance Test Procedure and Plant Performance Validation Report for the handover of the LPG Unloading & Storage Facility.
• Performed a Study and developed a Calculation Model on the condensation of LPG gas in the spheres during LPG unloading from the ship.
• Performed a Study with Recommendations on the vaporisation of condensed LPG in the inlet piping to the Vapour Recovery Unit.
• Evaluated the flow velocity of the liquid LPG in the unloading pipeline to the storage spheres.

Tankfarm – LPG Spheres

Source: Multipole Projects

Jetty Unloading Piping

Source: Multipole Projects

Vapour Recovery Unit

Source: Multipole Projects