A Cost Effective Terminal Site Solution to Blending Control

Bartec Benke has developed a system that offers a solution to the pitfalls of gasoline blending at the point of custody transfer in to the finished product pipeline. This solution consists of the RVP-4 (Vapor Pressure Process Analyzer), the DPA-4 (Distillation Process Analyzer), a nitrogen gas generator, a closed loop chiller and a joined sampling system. The system allow operators to measure the parameters that will inform them of the blending procedure necessary. The blending process can then be carried out at the point where the transporter is being loaded or the product transferred from transporter to pipeline. This means that the custody transfer is performed rapidly and efficiently whilst complying with regional environmental legislation.

Another application entails making heavy crude suitable for transport over long distances it is blended either with a diluents cocktail, condensate from natural gas exploration or Butane. The maximum allowed viscosity is specified by the management of the transport chain. The maximum permitted vapor pressure is specified by various regional environmental regulations and the proprietors of the transport system / pipeline used. There are still a lot of loop holes for crude blending due to long transport distances with pipelines and railcars, “degassing tank farms” and lack of uniform control parameters.