Impact of Sloshing on Fossil Fuel Loss during Transport

Hafsa Mir, Tahir Abdul Hussain Ratlamwala, Ghulam Hussain, Mohammed Alkahtani and Mustufa Haider Abidi
Additional contact information
Hafsa Mir: Department of Mechatronics Engineering, SZABIST, Karachi 75600, Pakistan
Tahir Abdul Hussain Ratlamwala: Department of Engineering Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Ghulam Hussain: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology, Topi 23640, Pakistan
Mohammed Alkahtani: Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
Mustufa Haider Abidi: Advanced Manufacturing Institute, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-34

Abstract: This study attempts to uncover the most common issue of fuel shortage faced by the oil and transportation industry worldwide. In Pakistan, petroleum is transported to the northern areas from the south coast. Currently, this is done using road tankers as a pipeline is still under construction. However, even after the pipeline becomes operative, road tankers would still be used for intra-city transport. Findings from this study can be used to determine the inter-city transport losses faced by oil companies. This study determines the hydrocarbons lost to the environment during inter-city road transport of petroleum. It takes nearly 2–3 days to complete a one-way trip with the fully loaded tank. Much work has been reported worldwide on hydrocarbon emissions, but nearly all of it has been done either for storage tanks/vessels or fuel tanks in rails/cars. The aim of this study was to investigate the actual amount of fuel lost to the environment due to the sloshing of liquid. Also, the results were expected to help in determining the extent of hazardous emissions resulting from road transport of petroleum. Hence, measures could be taken by the concerned authorities to mitigate the emissions if they exceeded the acceptable range. The sloshing was not found to contribute much in terms of vapor loss. Valve location was found to be important as no loss was obtained from the third compartment because the valve is to the right in this chamber. A negligible amount of fuel was lost from the first and second compartments per application of the brakes. Over a whole trip of 2–3 days, if the tanker braked 500 times, a total of 9–10 L would be lost to the environment.

Keywords: vapor loss; sloshing; CFD; breather vent valve; road tanker; petroleum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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