A Business Full of Energy: Fluid Management for China's Petrochecial–Boom

Hydrocarbons fuel the booming Chinese economy, but transport and distribution of oil and gas across the vast country is a gargantuan task. Solutions from Endress+Hauser simplify handling and storage. Over the years, Endress+Hauser China has become a specialist in automated solutions for managing fluids...

A thick haze hangs over Panjin, an industrial city in the north-eastern Chinese province of Liaoning. This key petrochemical hub is just off the coast of the Bohai Sea, a sweeping gulf connected to the Yellow Sea, holding the country’s richest offshore deposits. Humidity hangs in the air; the waterfront is only some 40 kilometers away. Dark clouds on the horizon suggest rain is on the way.

50 tanker trucks are lined up in a neat, long row on the edge of the street in front of the gates of the Huajin Tongda Chemical Company. The drivers arrived early in the morning at the refinery’s sales office with their paperwork. Now they wait patiently for their trucks to be loaded.

An 'Of the Shelf Solution' for the Oil Industry?

Suddenly the line starts moving. The first trucks roll into the yard and head for the terminal’s loading bays. While the drivers complete paperwork, refinery employees hustle around on top of the platform. Hatches are opened with a clang, grounding cables connected, sensors for overfill prevention hung in the openings and loading arms swung into position. The first driver returns and scales the platform. The chip card in his hand activates a process that opens a valve to release the flow of diesel. The 35-tonne tank will be filled within half an hour.

Song Zhaoming observes the activity with a look of satisfaction. He has just finished checking one of the flowmeters, along with one of the refinery’s employees. “Everything is running smoothly,” reports the 27-year-old project engineer from Endress+Hauser China. The truck loading terminal has been in operation for just under four years. “This is one of the first systems that we installed. Since then, it has almost become an off-the-shelf solution.”