title: Tank atmosphere perturbation: a procedure for assessing flashing losses from oil storage tanks.
abstract: A new procedure to measure the total volume of emissions from heavy crude oil storage tanks is described. Tank flashing losses, which are difficult to measure, can be determined by correcting this value for working and breathing losses. The procedure uses a fan or blower to vent the headspace of the storage tank, with subsequent monitoring of the change in concentrations of oxygen or other gases. Combined with a separate determination of the reactive organic carbon (ROC) fraction in the gas, this method allows the evaluation of the total amount of ROC emitted. The operation of the system is described, and results from measurement of several storage tanks in California oil fields are presented. Our measurements are compared with those obtained using the California Air Resources Board (CARB) 150 method.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Littlejohn
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lucas
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D007221:Industry; D010578:Petroleum; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D010578:Petroleum; D002244:Carbon