While storage tank overfills are certainly not new to the chemical industry, overspills and leaks are happening on a frequent basis and don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Year after year, thousands of spills are reported to EPA. With thousands of overfills reported each year, this translates into a lot of damage that’s occurring to your employees’ safety, the environment and your budget.

Perhaps you have heard people talking about how the biofuels industry has been slowing down in recent years or that it’s an industry in recession. Well, that is surely not the case. In 2015, almost 15 million gallons of ethanol was produced across 199 ethanol refineries and three more plants were under construction(1). This was the best year ever for the ethanol industry, and 2016 was said to be looking slightly better. Most of the ethanol produced has been blended into gasoline to satisfy a maximum 10% ethanol content by volume in most fuel grades in the U.S.

In the first part of this blog, I talked about the impact that safety and unplanned downtime has on the daily operation of a chemical plant. I also touched upon how process instrumentation fits into this and how they can help address some of these challenges. In part two, I’d like to focus on two additional challenges, which includes the increasing focus on saving energy and globalization.

Typically, the chemical industry is considered part of the downstream oil and gas segment where products are refined and processed by means of very high temperatures and pressures. A further segmentation splits the industry into basic chemicals and specialty chemicals (see Graphic A). Basic chemicals are manufactured in a continuous process so that low cost and a repeatable process is key in this segment. Many basic chemicals are used as feedstock for specialty chemicals, which are typically made in smaller batches and to specific customer specifications.

When it comes to working with hazardous materials, the possibility of a storage tank overspill is a daily battle for the chemical industry. Although overspills do not happen regularly, the threat still exists, the risks are high and the effects can be severely damaging to your plant in more ways than one.