TANK ALARM MONITORING TO KEEP KENYA FUELLED

Ian Loudon from tank monitoring alarm specialist Omniflex looks at how alarm systems are used for managing tank overfill conditions. If not monitored correctly, loss of containment from a tank or storage vessel could pose a serious safety risk to people or the environment. This is why Burhani Engineers, the company installing overfill protection systems in the largest tank storage facility in Mombasa, Kenya, needed reliable, high level alarm instrumentation to help protect critical assets. Having the right alarm system ensures safety in a tank facility. The UK’s Major Incident Investigation Board report into the Buncefield fire in 2005 concluded that insufficient or faulty critical safety equipment are often the key root cause of tank overfill incidents. This report led to the creation of the international API 2350 standard for tank facilities, requiring audible alarming systems and data collection processes to be implemented for the continuous monitoring of overfill parameters. To provide protection against overfill incidents, an independent high-level alarm system over and above the normal gauging system is required.   PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT AUTOMATED SYSTEMS For...