Laser Weaves an "Explosion-Proof Network": Guoke Hanhai Equips Yanshan Petrochemical's Ethylene Tank Farm with "Clairvoyance"

With a set of "laser monitoring sky net", Guoke Hanhai Laser Technology has built an invisible safety defense line for this high-risk tank farm.

01. Project Background: Why Does the Ethylene Tank Farm Need a "Laser Upgrade"?

The ethylene tank farm is the "core fortress" of petrochemical production, but traditional monitoring methods have long faced "two major pain points":

Monitoring blind spots: Traditional point-type sensors are difficult to reach leakage-prone parts such as tank bottom flanges and concealed pipeline connections, forming "monitoring dead ends".

Delayed response: Due to insufficient sensitivity, traditional equipment often fails to alarm until the gas diffuses to a certain concentration during low-concentration leaks, leaving very little time for disposal.

In accordance with the "Code for Design of Detection and Alarm for Flammable and Toxic Gases in Petrochemical Industry" (GB/T50493-2019), the ethylene tank farm, as a major hazard source, must upgrade its monitoring system. Guoke Hanhai's laser monitoring technology is designed to solve these problems – it can capture leaks with ppm-level precision (one part per million concentration) and cover a 100-meter range through non-contact monitoring, eliminating the safety risks of manual inspection from the source.

02. Technical Solution: How Do 6 Laser Devices Weave an "All-Coverage Protection Network"?

Targeting the layout characteristics of Yanshan Petrochemical's ethylene tank farm, Guoke Hanhai tailored a collaborative monitoring scheme of "scanning + reflection":

4 Fixed Scanning Laser Telemetry Instruments: "360-Degree Safety Sentinels" of the Tank FarmThese devices are installed at key points in the ABCD, EF, GH, and JZ tank farms. The 2-meter-high vertical poles allow the laser beams to exactly cover the upward diffusion path of ethylene after leakage. Equipped with 360-degree rotating scanning function, they have a monitoring radius of over 50 meters, and can scan key areas such as tank bodies, loading/unloading areas, and pipeline connection points in real time like "radar". Even minor leaks at the valves on the top of the tanks can be captured instantly.

2 Fixed Reflective Laser Telemetry Instruments: "Laser Warning Lines" for Pipelines,Along the ethylene transmission pipelines, two sets of devices are installed opposite each other to form a 100-meter-long unobstructed laser optical path. The transmitting end and reflecting end are accurately aligned, and the laser beam spans over the pipelines – once a pipeline leaks, when the gas passes through the beam, specific wavelengths of the laser will be absorbed, and the system will alarm immediately. This "opposed emission" design perfectly solves the monitoring problem of long-distance pipelines.

All devices are connected to the monitoring center via optical fibers, and the data transmission adopts redundant design to ensure that monitoring is not interrupted even in case of a single point of failure. On the screen of the central control room, real-time concentration data of each area is displayed. When the concentration exceeds the standard, an acousto-optic alarm is triggered immediately, and the leakage location is accurate to the meter level.

03. Practical Acceptance: How Sharp Are the Laser "Eyes"?

In the acceptance test in December 2023, technicians used professional gas cylinders to simulate ethylene leakage, and the performance of the laser monitoring system was amazing:

In the ABCD tank farm, at the moment of simulated leakage, the device immediately displayed a concentration value of 21119 ppm·m, and the alarm was triggered in only 0.3 seconds.

In the test of the GH tank farm, the maximum monitoring value reached 36785 ppm·m, far exceeding the design accuracy requirements, and the data was stable without fluctuations.

The reflective devices along the pipelines responded equally accurately to micro-leaks 100 meters away, verifying the reliability of long-distance monitoring.

These tests prove that whether it is the "surface" of the tank farm or the "line" of the pipelines, this system can achieve "all-coverage, millisecond-level, high-precision" monitoring.

04. Value Upgrade: From "Passive Firefighting" to "Active Prevention and Control"

This laser monitoring system has brought three major qualitative changes to Yanshan Petrochemical:Leapfrog Improvement in Safety Level，The monitoring range has expanded from "points" to "surfaces", eliminating more than 90% of traditional blind spots.，The response speed has been reduced from "minute-level" to "millisecond-level", gaining crucial time for emergency disposal.，Non-contact monitoring eliminates the need for personnel to approach high-risk areas, reducing inspection risks from the source.，Dual Environmental and Economic Benefits，Precisely capturing micro-leaks reduces ethylene emissions, contributing to VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) emission reduction.

It avoids equipment damage and production suspension losses caused by leaks. According to the annual production capacity calculation, it can reduce potential economic losses by tens of millions of yuan.Industry Demonstration Significance，As a "benchmark project" for ethylene tank farm monitoring, its collaborative scheme of "scanning + reflection" and installation layout based on gas diffusion characteristics provide a replicable technical model for the industry, promoting the monitoring of major hazard sources in the petrochemical industry from "compliance with standards" to "intrinsic safety".

05. Postscript: Technology Guards the Safety of "Industrial Blood"

The safety of ethylene tank farms is a microcosm of safe production in the petrochemical industry. Guoke Hanhai's laser monitoring technology has redefined the safety standards of high-risk areas with the speed and precision of "light". In the future, this system will be deeply integrated with Yanshan Petrochemical's production management platform. Through AI analysis of historical data, it will realize "leakage trend prediction" – when there are slight fluctuations in concentration, the system can prompt inspections, making "zero leakage" possible from a goal.

On the road of safeguarding energy security, every technological breakthrough is shortening the distance between "risk" and "safety". Guoke Hanhai has always believed that only by building a solid defense line with technology can every factory and every tank farm become a strong fortress for safe production.