Issue link: https://geospatial.trimble.com/en/resources/i/1415432
Spring 2019 59 5 T he objective of vapour control is to put in place technologies aimed at reducing emissions of substances harmful to human health and the environment. Vapour control is applied in a variety of industries, with particular emphasis on volatile organic components (VOCs) emissions resulting from end-of-pipe operations, i.e. loading, storage and distribution of volatile organic liquids such as gasoline, naphtha, kerosene and diesel. Almost all environmental authorities worldwide have enforced legislation (e.g. the US Clean Air Act and EU directive 94/63/EC) to limit VOC emissions from end-of-pipe operations – and these limitations are becoming more stringent (e.g. the German TA Luft II and the Dutch NeR). However, so far the storage industry has applied vapour control technologies mostly on refi ned products; only recently has the focus shifted onto regulating emissions resulting from crude oil. There are two primary reasons for this: Only in the last 5 – 10 years have petroleum-exporting countries, mainly in the Persian Gulf region, enforced VOC emissions legislation. Due to the extreme volatility of crude oil price, it is financially convenient to store large crude oil volumes in caverns and move it by ship during shortage periods. In 2015, approximately 3 billion t of crude oil were produced worldwide, and more than 60% of it was loaded onto large sea vessels to transport and distribute it. The process of loading crude onto a seagoing vessel emits vapours with harmful VOCs into the atmosphere: the Marco Puglisi, AEREON, Italy, discusses vapour control solutions for the storage industry.