When every minute counts: emission reduction and degassing for emergencies
A normal busy morning in the Port pf Rotterdam: ships are arriving and being unloaded, while others are being loaded and setting sail. There is hustle and bustle everywhere. Suddenly, an incident occurs: a stationary system for treating and reducing emissions and vapors unexpectedly fails. Since ships carrying cargo such as LNG, petrol or ammonia are also being loaded and unloaded, there is a risk of releasing emissions uncontrolled – a danger to people, the environment and the surrounding infrastructure.
In such a situation, every minute counts. Repairing the stationary vapor recovery unit (VRU) takes days, but without a functional VRU, the processes cannot continue and must be interrupted. In order to avoid environmental damage, operations in the port cannot simply be maintained as usual. In most cases, the processes in the affected area even come to a standstill.
The solution: a mobile vapor combustion unit that takes over the task of reducing emissions during VRU downtime. This allows processes to continue without causing environmental damage, endangering employees and residents or causing shortage of supply.
Emergency situations in industrial operations such as ports, tank farms, refineries or chemical and petrochemical plants often occur unexpectedly, are time-critical and require quick, safe action. These include, for example:
- ship accidents, especially when transporting hazardous materials;
- sudden failure of VRUs;
- leaks in storage tanks or pipelines;
- unplanned shutdowns of plants for maintenance or repair;
- fires or explosions, after which tank farms or pipelines must be degassed and inerted.
In all these scenarios, the aim is to remove and treat hazardous vapors or residual gases from tanks, ships and other facilities in a controlled manner – before they enter the atmosphere or form explosive mixtures. Mobile degassing provides the necessary safety in emergency situations to carry out work or maintain operations on a temporary basis.
How does mobile degassing help in emergencies?
In emergency situations in industrial operations, a quick response is required, flexible and reliable technology is essential. Mobile systems for emission reduction and degassing can be deployed within a very short time without relying on stationary infrastructure. This ensures rapid availability. Thanks to their mobile and flexible design, the systems can be brought directly to the site of the emergency.
Mobile vapor combustion units for degassing and replacement of VRUs enable the safe, environmentally-friendly and almost complete combustion of gases, gas mixtures and vapors – without an open flame and with an efficiency of over 99.99%. This allows escaping emissions to be treated and broken down safely and sustainably in order to reduce emissions to a minimum and significantly lowers safety risks.
The ETS Degassing mobile vapor combustion chambers are supplemented by mobile vaporizers with atmospheric nitrogen tanks. They are primarily used when working with particularly reactive or explosive substances, such as liquefied gases like LNG, ammonia or butane. The nitrogen is applied to inert tanks, pipes or other plant components before further work can be carried out. Purging these components prevents uncontrolled reactions such as oxidation and the resulting risk of ignition or explosion.
Advantages of mobile emission reduction in emergencies
- Rapid deployment: transport, setup, and commissioning within a few hours
- Flexible scalability: different combustion capacities allow performance to be adapted to requirements
- Legal certainty: operation in accordance with TA-Luft, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, among others
- Minimization of downtime: Plants do not have to be shut down, transitional operation is possible
Insights into practice: mobile emission reduction for flexible emergency management
Our team has experience from more than 3,000 applications. Of course, we have already contributed our extensive expertise and specialist knowledge to emergency situations. The following examples illustrate how mobile solutions for emission reduction and degassing can help to overcome critical solutions.
Degassing of a damaged LNG tanker
Two ships collided off the Dutch coast as a result of a heavy storm. One of the two ships was severely damaged: the outer hull of the LNG tanker was torn open and had to be repaired immediately as it is an important component for the safety of tankers. The tanks had to be completely gas-free for the work in the shipyard. Two of our mobile vapor combustion units were used for degassing to remove all LNG from the tanks. After initial notification, the equipment was made available and work could begin immediately after special permits were granted by the authorities. Only when the tanks were completely empty, all the necessary welding works in the ship’s hull were carried out in the shipyard. After the repair, we degassed the tanker once again and carried out the LNG cool down to prepare the ship for the refilling with LNG.
Purging of derailed tank cars containing propane
On the railway line between Hanover and Berlin in Germany, a dangerous situation arose when four rail cars derailed. The tank cars were filled with propane and derailed and overturned as a result of a collision between two freight trains. Gas was escaping in places and rescue operations were complicated by an increased risk of explosion. The challenge was to empty the rail cars before they could be recovered. To eliminate the danger posed by the propane and prevent it from igniting, one of our mobile nitrogen vaporizers was deployed. Our team on-site inerted the rail cars with nitrogen to flush the propane out of the tank cars. The purging also brought the concentration in the rail cars below the LEL (lower explosive limit). Later, we were also commissioned to degas one of the rail cars and safely remove the remaining propane from the tank.
Replacement of failed vapor recovery units in tank farms
The stationary vapor recovery units failed at two tank farms in Germany. Our mobile vapor combustion units were provided as replacements to prevent petrol shortages in the affected regions due to production stoppages. This allowed the plants to continue operating without restrictions and prevented environmental damage and production downtime.
Conclusion
Emergencies cannot be planned for, but they can be controlled with the right technologies. Mobile emission reduction and degassing are indispensable technologies in the management of industrial emergency situations. Whether it is a ship accident, a pipeline leak or VRU failure, the ability to respond quickly and safely to critical situations not only protects people and the environment, but also ensures the safe operation of processes.
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