If you are on the road, away from the city, you would have definitely come across large cylindrical tanks, which are used to store oil and gases. These are used by the refineries and distribution companies to store the product and are called above ground storage tanks.
These huge tanks are made of steel with their legs bolted on to a concrete bases that are sitting on a compacted earth. There are several problems that arise over time and regular inspections (EPA inspection factsheet) are needed before the tank collapses or the product leaks into the environment.
Pitting and corrosion, especially at the bottom of the tank, are the biggest problems. They primarily rust from inside to out as oil storage tanks breath and allow condensation to form on the inside at the bottom of the tank. This means to inspect the tank has to be taken off service and cleaned out all the sludge (which again varies based on the type of liquid and could be a few inches to a few feet thick!), to allow the technicians inspect.
This is a huge problem for the safety of folks involved, to the environment and operational cost of being offline. Hence it is #ProWoSo.
UPDATE: A challenge is looking for a solution that is non-intrusive, works on range of liquids while able to detect/predict the corrosion. Submission deadline is July 12, 2019.
Good luck to all the Pieneers! As always, know of anyone or any startup working on this, please let me know, I will update this post.
[Image Credit: Thanks to Life-Of-Pix via Pixabay]
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