Tank cleaning : oil sludge

control & homogenization with

P43® Jet Mixers
Blancon: a solutions oriented company

Blancon offers two approaches to hydrocarbon tank cleaning. These may be combined or
engaged separately depending on the specific tank conditions and client objectives.

• Method A: Conditioning and fluidification of heavy sludge with water

based, non-toxic, non surfactant Petromax formula: Heavy, solid
sludges, including tank bottom cleaning, oil pits/ lagoons, sandy oil/
slurry cleaning

• Method B: Oil mixing and resuspension using P43® oil jet mixers
from: “Lighter” sludges, sludges requiring re-suspension,
general tank cleaning where sludges are not solid or the tank
contains a sufficient amount of “good” oil to be used in recirculation
or new oil can be added to help the resuspension, as well as no very
high content of BS&Ws

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Tank cleaning that necessitates only 10 days of production down-time
An example of tank de-sludging operation of a 70.000m3 floating roof flat bed tank with over 2.000 m3 sludge

 Blancon offers a safe, fast and efficient method to remove unpumpable tank bottom sludges while
eliminating the high disposal costs by – at client’s request - recovering the previously unusable
product for customers use
 Complete mobility of our equipment allows us to respond to tank cleaning problems quickly in a
cost-effective way
 Safety of plant, equipment and crews represent paramount priorities throughout our operations
– All of our operators are trained to the highest standard to undertake any tank or vessel
cleaning operation
– Equipment equipped to meet hazardous work area requirements
– Non man entry

Blancon offers a complete desludging service available whenever the need may arise
to reduce your tank bottoms.

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Blancon’s tank cleaning solution is broader and more extensive,
and probably the fastest and safest method available

Sludge minimization De-sludging Tank cleaning Oil recovery Oil lagoons and
and recovery
Blancon

• Advanced, high volume
P43® jet mixers at up to
800 m3/h/unit
• Can convert 90% of the
original volume of sludge to
salable material
• Heavy sludge mobilization
and tank bottom cleaning
• Remove all remaining and
tough sludge to prepare the
tank for inspection and hot-
work
• Advanced technology to • Up to 99% recovery
deliver the best level of of oil from lagoons
recovery and pits
• Recover up to 99% of • Environmental clean
hydrocarbons up and remediation

Blabo (Oreco)

COWS (Taiho)

GasTight (Hydrochem)

SuperMacs (3i) Phaser (3i)

Hydrodozer (Willacy)

Manual labor

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High volume sludge reduction without man-entry

 Blancon uses a proven system/Rotary Jet  The shell-mounted system is designed to be

Mixers P43® - Veolia that works by directing
a submerged jet of crude oil across the
bottom of the storage tank
– Dissolves and re-suspends the
accumulated sludge throughout the
overhead oil
– Fluid dynamically powered
 Valuable hydrocarbons are re-suspended into
the crude oil and not wasted (up to 90-95% oil
recovery)
placed at the tank wall
 Normally using the existing tank shell manway
for mounting
 The solution is suitable for all roof types
(floating roof application requires the legs of
the roof to be out of the main operating
stream)
 Note: Veolia Environmental Services UK plc is
the owner of P43 technology made in UK

Blancon offers solutions for very heavy build-ups where jetting may not be optimal
as well as oil and sludge treatment and separation services

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Methodology overview: 10 days down-time
An example of tank de-sludging operation of a 70.000m3 floating roof flat bed tank with over 2.000 m3 sludge

Stage 1: Client bottoms tank Day 1 & 2 : Site preparation & installation

 The tank is bottomed to allow access through the  The site is prepared and the jet mixers are
manway covers for the jet mixers. installed in the tank, mounted on custom-made
manway covers.
 Degassing: This operation should be carried out
before our specialist operators arrive on site.  Then the high-volume pumps are connected,
ready for the de-sludging operation
 Samples of sludge are taken to measure the
percentage in BS&Ws (Bottom Sediment
&Water) and the sludge profile is carried out

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Methodology overview (continued)
Days 3 & 4: Re-filling the tank
 After a thorough check of the installation, the client
refills the tank to a pre-determined level with light
crude.
 The crude oil has to be sampled and BS&W levels
are measured
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Days 5 & 6 : The cleaning process – putting
the hydrocarbons back into suspension
 The specialist team set the de-sludging operation in
progress by re-circulating the light crude and
pumping it back into the tank at 700M³ per hour per
unit.
 As the jet mixer units rotate slowly inside the tank,
the jet of crude will sweep up the sludge cutting, re-
suspending and homogenizing it in the overhead oil
ready for normal refining processes.
Methodology overview (continued)
Day 7: Re-suspension completed
 The crude should now be homogenized, with
soluble hydrocarbons in suspension and ready
for processing. At this stage the tank is drained
to a holding tank and the effectiveness of the
operation assessed. If there is still a large
amount of solids not suspended the operation is
repeated but for a shorter period.
A typical test with 2600 m3 sludge showed that after a 15h-
operation, 2300 m3 are re-suspended, whereas after a 30h-
operation up to 2500 m3 were re-suspended.
Day 8 : Equipment removed – tank now
available for re-use
 After removal of the Jets/shell mounted de-
sludging equipment, any small amounts of (if
any) remaining residues can be handled by
conventional methods.
 Alternatively, the tank can be put straight back
into operation for storing crude.
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P43® Jet mixer and cleaning process scheme

P43 : Shell-mounted machine

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More than 600 tanks worldwide have been treated using this approach

-Installation for sludge control and homogeinization: 57 oil companies

-Companies that specify P43® as standard equi pment: 14 companies in 6 countries

Some of the clients:

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Optional final full slop oil separation and treatment system overview

Note: Illustrative example. Actual

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configuration and units may change.
Oil processing, dewatering and recovery

 Continuous processing of extracted slope, or contaminated

soil, and separating it into its base components for disposal,
or re-use
– 2 stage and 3 stage, including centrifuging

 Separation of oil, water and inorganics

– Reuse of hydrocarbons
– Reduced slope volume < 1% Water in Oil Content
< 0,2% of Sediments in Oil**
– Minimal waste generated

 Environmental remediation applications for oil-contaminated

soils etc.

▶ Provides a cleaner and more liquid free cake in a 3 phase separation process*
▶ Offers cleaner oil free tanks in preparation for inspection and repairs

* As tested by US Filter on their dewatering equipment, yielded a

significantly drier cake. Instead of the usual 30% - 40% liquid
content on the filter test, the conditioned slope yielded a result of
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17.5%
** Results may vary
www.blancon.net
(+34) 91.723.15.02
Calle La Resina 37, Nave 11
28021 Madrid, Spain

Al Amaq –Blancon Oil Field Services Co

Salah City St, Hay Al Andalus Gargaresh
Tripoli, Libya
(+218) 21.478.0498

Grupo SAPSA
Indiana 260-835, Col. Nápoles  Blancon is a leading provider of industrial support, and maintenance
solutions, delivering premium quality, technology-based services
México, 03810 D.F.
México City, Mexico  Our highly qualified, multi-craft personnel are ready to respond to our
(+52) 55.5598 9851 customers’ needs 24-hours per day, 365 days per year

 Blancon is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and through highly mobile

service crews, works with our partners in Mexico and Libya to serve
markets throughout the world

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