Equipment Layout

The Arrangement of Equipment considering maintenance, operational requirement, piping requirement

& satisfy the standards is called as equipment layout.
Tank Farm design
The arrangement of tank considering the safety, minimum inter distance as mentioned in standard is
called as a tank farm.
Grouping of tank based on type of product:

Class A Flash Point below 23 Deg C

Class B Flash Point 23 to 65 Deg C

Class C Flash Point 65 to 93 Deg C

Class D Flash Point > 93 Deg (Dyke Ht min 1m)

C
(Dyke Ht min 0.6m)

In a single tank farm Class A & B can be grouped together, Class C shall be stored separately. If Class C is
grouped with A & B then Safety requirement shall be Implemented on Class C as of A & B.
The Class D shall not be grouped with Class A, B, C.
Grouping of tanks based on the Type of Tank
Fixed and floating roof tank shall be grouped separately in a tank farm. If floating roof tank is grouped
with fixed roof tank internal distance between the tank shall be taken as maximum of 2 & the total
volume shall not exceed 60,000 m3.
The Distance between the edge of the tank and the dyke wall shall be minimum 15 mtrs.
The Height of the tank shall be 20 mtrs. Or 1.5 times diameter which ever is less.
The dyke wall is designed surrounding the tank based on the considerations that it should conatin the
largest tank damaged. The height of the dyke wall is however restricted to 0.6 mtrs for class C petroleum
and minimum 1 mtrs for class A & B Petroleum. The Dyke wall is made of trapezoidal based earthen
bricks & massionary shall be used.
The area inside the dyke wall shall be paved to avoid vegetation growth. The area inside the dyke shall
be sloped to collect the spillage to a common drain sump.
Minimum number of penetrations shall be considered for the dyke which can be achieved by
maintaining a common header.
The pump station shall be kept outside the dyke.

The minimum distance as per OSID ( oil industry safety directorate) table is as follows.
Dia Below 50 mtrs
Dia Exceeding 50 mtrs

D+d/4
D+d/4
Floating roof class A + B

D+d/4
D+d/6
Fixed roof A + B

D+d/6
D+d/4
Class C

D is dia of the larger tank in meters, & d is diameter of smaller tank. This table is applicable for tank
capacity exceeding 5000 m3.
If the calculated distance is less than 15 meters , then either ,
We have to consider , 1 X d , or 0.5 X D or 15 Mtrs, which ever is more shall be taken in to consideration.
For example if D = 30 mtrs and d = 20 mtrs then we will consider distance between the tank to be 20
mtrs. The distance calculated above table is edge to edge not center to center.
Safety Guide lines for the design the tank farm as per NFPA or API
1. As per national fire protection act ( NFPA ) or API the local insurance requirement or local
authorized body rules and regulations shall be implemented first.
2. As per NFPA all valves shall be fast acting type in tank farm ( Like ball & butterfly valve ).
3. As per NFPA or API the leakage or spillage shall de restricted to a smaller area using fast settling
cement or permanently by means of a dyke wall.
4. As per NFPA the PSV shall be installed above the tanks to safeguard from high pressure buildup.
5. All the tank shall have a cooling water spray to avoid the product inside reaching flash point,
specially for class A Petroleum.
6. As per NFPA all fire cannot be dosed by means of water hence dry carbon-dioxide or foam shall
be used as an alternative.