Volcanic Heater Inc recently delivered and installed the largest unit ever built at its Ohio facility: a customized heavy oil-fired helical coil heating system for a NuStar terminal in St Eustatius, a small island in the Dutch Caribbean.
The unit has 2,500 square feet of heating surface, weighs 68,000 pounds, and is nearly 50 feet long and nine feet high.
Volcanic designed the heating system to both offset significant heat loss and to add temperature to heavy oil storage in a short period of time. The multi-tank system includes a 30,000-gallon heavy oil storage tank, with finned heating coils under normal operation, electric immersion heaters for cold-startup, and mixers to enhance heat transfer. Volcanic also furnished a ModSync control system from Synex Controls to operate the heaters on a lead-lag system for maximum efficiency, and to enable communication and control of the units from the terminal control room about a half-mile away.
Due to soot produced as a result of burning heavy oil, Volcanic engineered a coil that could slide out of the unit to be cleaned and inspected regularly. Redundant equipment, such as pumps and spare parts, was recommended due to the long lead time in delivering equipment to the remote island.
NuStar is a growing master limited partnership that has installed several Volcanic heaters.
Volcanic worked closely with NuStar project engineers to design the St Eustatius system, offering consultation on pipe sizing, control valves, and operating procedures. The project was a joint effort from conception through start-up. A Volcanic service technician, project engineer, and a Synex Controls programmer were on-site for four weeks to commission the system and observe the system operation while under load.
For more information, visit www.volcanic-heater.com.