Influence of working parameters on the tank washing effect of non-volatile organic compounds for stainless steel lined chemical tanker

Abstract Effective tank washing is a key working procedure to ensure the efficiency and quality of chemical water transport. A physical experimental system and numerical simulation model were established to explore the influence of key factors on the effect of tank washing. The chemical tanker with stainless steel lined bulkheads was taken as the research object, and palm oil was selected as a typical non-volatile chemical cargo. Experiments and numerical simulations were conducted. The results show that the numerical model agrees well with the experiments. The main factors affecting washing effect are the length and diameter of the nozzle outlet, the washing time duration, the temperature of the washing water and the dynamic pressure. The quantitative evaluation model of tank washing effect for palm oil is 𝛾 = 1.0674 + 1.4525𝑝 − 0.4778𝑝2 + 0.1776𝑡 − 0.0165𝑡2 + 5.9638 ∗ 10−4𝑡3 + 0.0032𝑇 −1.8306 ∗ 10− 5𝑇2. The effect at the initial stage of tank washing is mainly due to the impact of washing liquid jet, and in the middle and late stage, mainly due to dissolution of tank washing water. This paper has theoretical reference value for related research and good guidance significance for the practice of chemical tanker washing operation.