Liquid, Chemical & Gas Handling

Emissions regulations are causing ports to not only adapt, but to respond to port users' environmental needs, in order to achieve competitive advantage. LNG is a way for ports to meet those goals, however this is dependent on whether LNG development plans are in line with different market expectations and operational conditions. This article focuses on the development of LNG projects in Northern-Europe and the role their port authorities are playing to facilitate and promote LNG as a marine fuel.

GTT, a french engineering company specialise in the design of LNG containment systems positions itself as a solution provider for the containment of LNG and mobilising highly skilled engineers. This article focuses on the advantages provided by low pressure LNG fuel storage for bunkering infrastructure integrated into port facilities.

FLNG is now technically and economically proven in enabling previously unviable gas fields to be exploited, and while the industry looks to move further offshore, there are lessons to be learned and best practices to be taken from onshore and near shore applications. However, an understanding of the complexities and individual requirements of more extreme offshore environments is key to successful systems development in FLNG docking, mooring and transfer, whether side-by-side or tandem configuration.

The global storage terminals industry faces many challenges, some old, some new; this article will discuss two of them both concerning the merits of mixing in above-ground storage tanks. This article discusses the challenge of handling a variety of different grades of fuel and the necessity to process them into a final specification in the shortest possible time. The other challenge is the necessity to keep tankage free from deposition – basic sediment and water. Failure to handle either of these challenges could spell disaster and huge revenue losses.

Research into LNG as a marine fuel saw a strong growth in recent years, but no study has analysed in a structured way, the level of convergence among the findings presented in the wide range of studies conducted by research centres, classification societies, ship engine manufacturers and consultancy firms. In order to fill this gap, we performed a systematic review to synthesise the findings of 33 published studies on the use of LNG as a ship fuel. The aim is to obtain a much broader understanding of the current perspectives and challenges for applying LNG as a bunker for ship propulsion.

The Port of Fujairah was built in the early 1980s as part of the economic development of the United Arab Emirates. Fujairah is situated on the East Coast, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, and with its port being a secure portal to the Gulf; it has seen steady growth over the years.

With an effective date of August 15 2013, the US Coast Guard revised its safety regulations for vessel and facility vapour control systems (VCS) to promote safe operation in an expanded range of activities. Lieutenant Jodi J. Min, senior chemical engineer, Hazardous Materials Division, US Coast Guard, discusses the requirements of these regulations and what effects they will have.

To effectively shut off pipes when handling LNG, valves have to be reliable and their design requires them to be capable of coping with the special physical and chemical properties of this medium. Pump and valve manufacturer KSB has been producing butterfly valves for the entire LNG process chain for several decades and recently, working in co-operation with the companies Technip and Eurodim, KSB has developed an offshore loading system known as Connectis.

In 2004, PTI published an article titled, 'The installation of an aluminium internal floating roof is a sound investment' written Allentech's Bill Grimes. In this article Bill look at how the installation of an aluminium internal floating roof (AIFR) is an even better investment today than it was in 2004. In addition, if you already have an AIFR, he also discusses how a certain type of retrofitting is also a profitable investment.

In this paper, TIC chief engineer John Lieb considers the critical engineering aspects of changing the service or operating conditions of aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) and provides some insight on how the owner/operator can ensure that such evaluations are properly performed.

The challenge of IT systems is that they need to be integrated to be most efficient. APT decided to face this challenge. In 2010 APT was looking for a new integrated IT solution to replace the current system as it could no longer meet the requirements. APT has chosen Implico's terminal management and terminal automation system OpenTAS to provide this one-point solution that fulfils all the needs in terms of planning, loading, inventory management and administration of the terminals.

Long waves, although hardly visible, can cause large problems for moored ships. Over the last decade hydrodynamic research has focused on deep and ultra-deep water developments. However, recent experience with the development of offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals has shown that the issues related to shallow water hydrodynamics are at least of similar complexity.