Tank Overfill Prevention – Are your tanks spill free?

Are your generators, vehicles, plant equipment or stationary tanks overfilling? There are numerous ways to manage the risk of tank overfill, and in this blog article, we’ll lay out some of the most common, along with the pros and cons of each. Your first question is probably ‘Why should I care?’, and you’d be asking the right question. It all comes down to risk; what is going to happen in each specific situation if an overfill occurs? Does your current risk management program consider the variables of each application, specifically those variables which may determine a hazard? The ALARP principal is often used in the regulation or safety-critical systems, and requires that residual risk is reduced “as low as reasonably practicable”. If you overfill a small storage tank used for water, it may be that plants will get watered, and ‘people could get wet’. With liquid hydrocarbons, it’s often more of an issue. Soil and water become contaminated, tanks are ruptured, critical machines burn down, explosions occur; people can die.

How to minimise total cost of ownership – Maintenance and more

Here at Banlaw, we’re all about helping companies improve their productivity by reducing fluid loss, reducing fluid contamination, and delivering more efficient and safer resource management processes. With Banlaw products sold in 33 countries, we need a system for supporting customers that includes local knowledge, local language, and is flexible to a range of Maintenance Management Systems. It is critical to us that users of Banlaw hardware have access to the right product, knowledge, and skills to keep their equipment up and running.

Banlaw receives HSE Innovation Award from major miner

Banlaw service teams have recently been recognised by a large global mining client for reducing the risk associated with the manual handling of fluid calibration equipment. Flow calibration is a critical activity for companies that need an accurate fuel management system to account for fuel usage in their operation. Calibration Meters are known to be bulky, awkward, and heavy. Moving Calibration Meters from job to job and correctly positioning them on site carries a significant risk of staff injury. As part of Banlaw’s continuous improvement approach to onsite Hydrocarbon processes; this situation was recognised as an opportunity to improve. Banlaw teams analysed the risk profile, then designed and fabricated a new Calibration Rig solution.

Zero Lost Time Injuries for 5 years at Banlaw

Safety is first among Banlaw’s core values. Ahead of everything else, we aim to send our guys and girls home safe when the work is done. During these five years Banlaw teams have delivered fuel and resource management projects in 33 countries, and manufactured hundreds of thousands of products. Thank you to our staff, and our valued customers and distributors for creating an environment where we can all expect to go home safe at the end of the day.

Predictive and Preventative Maintenance

The following is an excerpt from the Austmine webinar ‘Predictive Maintenance and Life of Asset’, which was aired to Australian Mining, Equipment, Technology, and Services organisations (METS) in August 2016. The presenter; João Silveirinha, is Banlaw’s Group Engineering & Development Manager. João’s background is innovation in engineering across a range of industries; more recently Energy, Oil & Gas, and Mining. On a day to day basis João is involved in planning around Functional Safety, Machine Safety and Explosive Atmospheres. His team leverage many of the key International Standards that form the guidelines for safe and innovative practices across numerous heavy industries. João is originally from Portugal, and is now based out of Newcastle in Australia.

Contamination: How Banlaw Can Help You

Modern engines and plant equipment are designed to offer increased efficiency, reduced emissions and longer service intervals. As a result, they are also more sensitive to fuel and oil contaminants. In particular, higher operating pressures within fuel systems to achieve a more complete combustion process leads to closer tolerances between moving parts, causing even smaller particles to have an effect on the clearances between these components. Modern ULSDs and biodiesels also pose an increased risk of microbial contamination, which left undetected, can seriously degrade the quality of the fuel and introduce other problems including reduced fuel filter life and accelerated corrosion of tanks, pipes and other metal system components.

Cleaner fuels and fluids

Modern engines and plant equipment are designed to offer increased efficiency, reduced emissions and longer service intervals. As a result, they are also more sensitive to fuel and oil contaminants. In particular, higher fuel pressures within engines to achieve a more complete combustion lead to closer tolerances, causing even smaller particles to have an effect on the life and performance of fuel system components. Modern ULSDs and biodiesels also pose an increased risk of water (moisture) retention and microbial contamination, which left undetected and untreated, can seriously degrade the quality of the fuel, and introduce other problems including reduced fuel filter life and accelerated corrosion of tanks, pipes and other metal components.

Soon to be released products showcased at MINExpo 2016

Banlaw will be unveiling innovative new offerings in the lead up to MINExpo 2016, with world-first technologies in several hydrocarbon categories on display. Achieve greater visibility and control, and even faster, safer, cleaner refuelling and fluid transfer. To get your hands on these game-changing products first, come to the Banlaw stand at MINExpo where we’ll be offering live product demonstrations and training.

Banlaw is proud to sponsor racer Scott Kelly

Banlaw is proud to sponsor Scott Kelly who is racing in the Keema Cars Excel Cup. Scott won the Single Cam series in 2015, with two rounds (of eight) to spare. We wish him all the best for the 2016 season, set to be very competitive with the first 16 cars having less than a second between them in the first race.

Celebrating Banlaw’s Team

Group Managing Director, Bill Clifton, awarded each member of staff with a gift and thanked them for their contribution to Banlaw’s continuing success. ‘We have a very dedicated team here at Banlaw. We operate in more than 30 countries but we all know each other and are all committed to providing hard-working solutions for our clients. I think that’s why we have been able to have such long term commitment from our staff,’ he said.

How Banlaw has helped Indonesia’s premier coal mine

International Mining magazine visited the Kaltim Prima Coal mining complex in Indonesia in late 2015, to see how such a large operation manages its huge fleet of machines over an extensive area. Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) is the world’s largest single producer and exporter of thermal coal, as well as largest single coal mining complex in Asia. ‘Back in 2008 the fuel accounting system at KPC was still highly manual, yet local teams were expected to manage inwards deliveries of some 3 million litres of diesel, which were arriving by barge every couple of days. This product was being hauled 16 km by tanker trucks and pipeline to the ROM storage area. From the ROM area, the diesel was used to fill haul trucks and large service trucks which would operate at refuelling locations within the pit. Pretty much everything was hand written, while contractors on the site also had to acquire the fuel they needed via a paper-based system. These factors caused significant difficulty in terms of reconciling around 1.6 million litres per day.

Refuelling Faster than Formula One

Fuel is the number one consumable expense for most heavy industrial operations and fleets. Inefficient refuelling wastes significant time and money. Formula One fans are currently waiting for the FIA to confirm whether in-race refuelling will be allowed once more. While Bernie Ecclestone and some drivers are all for it, there are also safety and cost considerations. When refuelling was last introduced to F1 in 1984, the pit lane went from being somewhere to stop with a problem, to the place where competitive advantage is achieved. On this highly visible stage races were won with a combination of high speed refuelling hardware, a well-trained team, and optimised processes.

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