Rotork flow control technologies play key role in UAE tank farm expansion
Rotork electric and electro-hydraulic valve actuation and control technologies were selected for a major petroleum storage tank farm expansion project in Fujairah, UAE.
The project at the Emarat Fujairah terminal included the construction of 10 new storage tanks, which increased the site’s total capacity from 50,000 cubic meters to 260,000 cubic meters.
The facility is designed for the storage and distribution of gas oil, petroleum and jet fuel to meet growing regional demand for trading and bunkering. The design of the new tanks complies with the highest criteria for safety, employing control systems in accordance with international standards.
More than 100 Rotork explosion-proof intelligent electric actuators with two-wire digital control have been installed for the majority of valve duties at the tank farm. The actuators feature non-intrusive, intrinsically safe commissioning, data-logging and predictive maintenance capabilities. Reliability is enhanced by the double-sealed IP68 watertight enclosure, while the ability to download and diagnose operating data enables effective asset management to be planned and implemented with minimum interruption to plant operations.
The two-wire digital control system was specified by Emarat and the engineering consultant Penspen for its reliability and flexibility for valve control in the tank farm industry. The system is designed specifically for valve actuators and the spacious environments associated with tank farm installations.
The system''s configuration provides built-in redundancy from the valve to the control room, ensuring the security of vital control command and monitoring data. In addition, data from actuator data-loggers can be downloaded over the network for diagnostics and analysis, enabling this vital function to be performed without leaving the control room.
Rotork’s electro-hydraulic actuators provide failsafe valve management for safety-related and emergency shutdown (ESD) duties. By using intelligent actuation technology designed to SIL3 standards for safety critical applications, these actuators can be programmed for failsafe to open, failsafe to close, or lock-in position on power failure or ESD signal.
For the Fujairah terminal project, the Rotork actuators were fitted to valves at a local valve company and shipped to the site as factory-tested motorized-valve (MOV) packages. Rotork’s Middle East office and UAE agent in Abu Dhabi are providing onsite and workshop support for the installed products.
The Fujairah terminal is owned by Emirates General Petroleum Corp. (Emarat). The main contractor for the expansion project was Tata of India, with Albanna Engineering of Dubai responsible for the MOV installations. Systems integration was performed by the Jebel Ali office of Larsen & Toubro.
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