Storage Tank Cleaning

[pacebm]

I lucked up and found a guy that was retiring and closing down his garage that he had for about 30 years. I got his 600 gallon oil storage tank that I want to use in my WMO system for the clean oil but it has about 6 inches of crud in the bottom. The tank is on approximately 2 foot legs and has a 2 inch drain on one end. The top has a 2 inch turn down vent, 2 inch fill port and a 6 inch blind flange. Anybody got any ideas on cleaning this thing? My initial thoughts are to put some old gasoline I have in there and let it set for a while. Then use a pressure washer to wash it out the 6 inch flange. Anybody got some better ideas?
Thanks

 

[Nonotagain]

I lucked up and found a guy that was retiring and closing down his garage that he had for about 30 years. I got his 600 gallon oil storage tank that I want to use in my WMO system for the clean oil but it has about 6 inches of crud in the bottom. The tank is on approximately 2 foot legs and has a 2 inch drain on one end. The top has a 2 inch turn down vent, 2 inch fill port and a 6 inch blind flange. Anybody got any ideas on cleaning this thing? My initial thoughts are to put some old gasoline I have in there and let it set for a while. Then use a pressure washer to wash it out the 6 inch flange. Anybody got some better ideas?
Thanks

I'd probably use something less flammable than gasoline, diesel fuel or mineral spirits would be my choice.

You're going to need a brush to scrape the crud off the bottom once softened then scrubbed again when you think you have it clean enough.

Make sure to attach a ground cable to reduce the chance of a static spark causing a fire and wear nitrile rubber gloves to keep the sludge off your skin. It’s got to have a fair amount of lead in the sludge. Dispose of the remains as required by local law.

As for the pressure washer, don't do it until the tank is almost clean, then I might want to coat the inside of the tank with POR-15 to seal it up.

 

[wdbtchr]

I wonder if biodiesel would be a good choice, I hear so many say it cleaned out their truck tanks so well. Maybe drive around with it in the back of a truck to slosh it around?

 

[pacebm]

I'm not sure I can get in there to scrub. The 6" flange is close to the end. The tank is really solid, about 1/4" wall. He bought it surplus from the government years ago! It is actually a pressure vessel because the heads are domed. The ASME tag is gone but the bracket is still there. The tank is about 42" diameter by 8 feet to the dome seams. Thanks for the lead warning, I hadn't thought of that. I think I may try some biodiesel/diesel and/or mineral spirits to see if I can loosen it up. I can definitely let it sit and soak. I might even try to circulate some of it with a pump I have. We use an industrial cleaning company at work to clean our vessels so I might just get them to do me a favor. I am not sure how to properly dispose of this crud, I guess I would have to put it in drums and pay to have it disposed.

This may not have been as good of a deal as I originally thought......live and learn (from my mistakes)!

I will keep you posted.

 

[rango]

pics, i wanna see how big a 600 gallon tank is

 

[pacebm]

pics, i wanna see how big a 600 gallon tank is

I'll get you some tomorrow. The silver paint looks like crap but the tank is solid; I'm thinking OD green as its new color! It looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me: somehow clean the inside and wirebrush, clean, prime and paint the exterior but when I'm done it should last me forever.

 

[wreckerman893]

I am not sure how to properly dispose of this crud, I guess I would have to put it in drums and pay to have it disposed.

I advise you to stock up on KY Jelly.......when I worked for a Hazmat disposal facility we charged $800.00 to pick up one 55 gallon drum of crud like you describe. That was eight years ago and I assume the price has not gone down.

That is still cheaper than getting fined by your state environmental department for improper disposal.

The less stuff you have the cheaper it will be to dispose of......you can filter down and just dispose of the thick stuff.

DO NOT use water to blow this stuff out.....this will make all of the water that comes in cotact with it HAZMAT too. Allowing it to run off will get you a fine or jail time. No kidding.

Ironically we took the stuff we picked up and blended it with other liquid and solid waste.

This was then burned in cement kilns for the heat value to make cement.

The bad stuff was bound up in the cement and you are probabaly driving around on it.

 

[jesusgatos]

THAT'S what's in cement!?! Wonder what happens when rainwater seeps through that? Would think it would get into the soil, no?

 

[wreckerman893]

THAT'S what's in cement!?! Wonder what happens when rainwater seeps through that? Would think it would get into the soil, no?

You would think so but the heat destroys all the petroleum and other waste products and the heavy metals are bound up in the cement so they can't leach out. I spent a lot of time at cement plants unloading fuel and had some interesting coversations with folks at different levels of the process.....including upper management. People are surprisingly easy to talk to when they know you are genuinly interested in what they have to say.

The big cement companies saw the writing on the wall years ago when all the environmental laws were being enacted....they spent the money then to upgrade their pollution abatement systems on their equipment so they could burn hazardous waste as fuel. The air going out of a cement kiln is actually cleaner than the air coming in (or so says the party line).

Most plants have a government inspector on site most of the time. There are remote automated monitoring systems also.

I was told by one of the big wigs that they make more money burning HAZMAT they they will ever make selling cement. Yes.....they get paid to burn the fuel.....they do not have to buy it.

Some plants are even equipped to burn shredded scrap tires which have a big heat value.

This beats the old method of just dumping crud into the environment which resulted in some terrible environmental disasters such as Love Canal, NY (HAZMAT) and Times Beach, MO (Dioxin)

 

[3dAngus]

I can confirm the cement plants burning and recirculatory system is second to none. The computer monitoring and heat generated is amazing, and pollutants are almost non-existant. It's an excellent way to dispose of tires, rather than throwing in the dump, if the plant has the ability to burn tires as well. They don't all have it, but the ones that do are closely monitored. We all benefit from it.

You might be able to contact your nearest cement plant and they might just take the drum off your hands, provided they know the exact content, and are allowed to burn. I would contact them and ask what they can and cannot burn, and then use the mixing agents according to what they are permitted to use as fuel.

 

[wreckerman893]

You might be able to contact your nearest cement plant and they might just take the drum off your hands, provided they know the exact content, and are allowed to burn. I would contact them and ask what they can and cannot burn, and then use the mixing agents according to what they are permitted to use as fuel

Transporting HAZMAT (even stuff you generate) is strictly regulated......and the cement companies will not take stuff that has not been processed by a licensed treatment facility. It has to be lab tested for metals and dioxin (hardest stuff in the world to get rid of) at each step of the disposal process.

Each of our trucks carried a milion dollar liability policy incase of a wreck or spill.

Best thing to do is contact a licensed waste disposal company and ask them about removal....usually they can send you guidelines and give you a ballpark figure on what it will cost to remove your stuff.

Best to stay legal in this area. Fines can be financially ruinous. Not to mention legal fees and sharing a cell with "Big Bubba".

 

[jesusgatos]

Sounds like your free storage tank could end up costing you an arm and a leg. THat guy tricked you into hauling away his hazardous waste. haha.

 

[storeman]

I agree that he did you no favors. I'd be tempted to return the tank to his house or place of business and let him wrestle with it. If he owns the property (real estate), he will likely have to deal with it to sell the place.

 

[wreckerman893]

I don't mean to make this a bigger bugaboo than it is.

You can clean out the tank and store the residue if you exercise due dilligence.

If you store it in a protected place where the drum will not rust out or suck water in around the bung hole you can keep it indefinantly. Assuming you are not a business that generates Haz waste.

You should label the drum as "Flammable" just in case the fire dept has to respond to your place.

Of course you will have to deal with it eventually (or your heirs will).

I worked in the industry for over 7 years and just want you guys to be legal and safe.

 

[pacebm]

Tank is clean. I took it to work and one of our wonderful contractors took care of it. It has been cleaned on the inside and sandblasted and primed on the outside. It will get a couple of coats of gray industrial enamel tomorrow and it will be ready to go. Sometimes it is good to work for big oil. I knew the tank was dirty when I picked it up but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. Since I got all the warnings, I cashed in some favors and got it done for free.
I think y'all are not used to living in rural Alabama (excluding Wreckerman of course, a fellow possum connoisseur), this guy could have taken this to a scrap yard with no questions asked. I could have filled it with mineral spirits and drove into one of the old cold mines to drain it. I know there are 5 million rules surrounding DOT, EPA, ADEM and anybody else you can think of. I work at a petrochemical plant and deal with them everyday but their are two different sets of standards. They go after the big guys like us not some small business with a little oil on the ground. My dad owned tire stores for years and the county used to get his oil to spray on the roads and I am not talking about 1950; I'm talking about 2005 when he retired. I didn't and don't want to pollute our environment; but you can go overboard with some of these regulations. The water we take out of the Tennessee River is dirtier than the water we put back in, that is messed up. The environmental rules make it difficult for us to compete globally.


Sorry, got on a soapbox. I just get really tired of hearing about environmental rules all day when we are talking millions of gallons and I only have a 600 gallon tank. The guys used a 10k psi pressure washer with steam and a 180 degree spinning nozzle. All material washed to the API seperator which recovers hydrocarbons. Final wash with some type of stuff that smelled like oranges and then a final water rinse. Inert gas to dry it out. Nozzles and opens plugged before sandblasting. Next time I saw it, it was covered in primer.

Thanks for the suggestions guys and keeping me straight.

 

[wreckerman893]

Cool beans........please post some pics when you get your system set up.

 

[3dAngus]

I think the moral of this story is, "Say Nothing!"

Just Do It!

And I guess I'll never buy a tank on GL unless I have a flashlight and an opportunity to inspect for tar first. I'd like to have a 300 gal. tank.

Steam is the secret. They pump steam down in the tar fields underground in Canada to melt the oil and tars so they can bring it up. It is produced by huge diesel generators. The diesel spills in the area are creating some serious environmental issues, and the Canadian Environmentalists are in a uproar over it. I'm sure there is good reason for it, but I can't imagine diesel spills in an oil field being the major concern.

You can overdo it with all the environmental crap. My county pours oil on dirt roads too. Keeps the dust down so people can hang their clothes outside and not have to run their pool pump 24/7. No one fines them, and they aren't just dumping 55 gal drums, if you know what I mean.