Document 2Jgo5ydb3waDoOGybQLeerX1b

/ Chicago Illinois October 5* 1940 ...r. J.ft. ioudreau Chicago Office w. T.V t b?tsrt Dear Jiat The following la a rebubo* of sy activities luring the week ending October 5, 1940* ::.cm\ r The early part of the morning was awit at the office discussing tha proposed tank cleaning tools* Later in the morning I reported to 3r* Bandars at the Btevens Hotel for 3iy annual physical exasination* Having been requestod to call by the Johnson Cil Supply of Gary, I drove to their refinery for t! purpose of raking an inspection of their blending plant no wider con struction* Johnson has sada no attempt in the past to rush construction worki however, tha market la now bad for unleaded gasoline in thsir marketing area and they now have requested immediate shipment of fluid which was ordered some tine ago* flushing and wash roosa fixture installation reaaiasto bo done. I have informed -Johnson that the entire plant must be completed before the fluid can be released* I personjially feel that they would complete necessary work should the fluid to released before all details of construction are completed but further fool that v?e should withhold release until all work has been done* Standard Oil began cleaning operations on their tank iio. 11| buffalo Bide, Shitlag refinery* This 'is a small 20* x >0*, 2,634 bbl*, vortical tank, with a floating roof and is used as a leaded aviation gasoline shipping tank. * 002288 TUESDAY Called at the Standard Oil CospanyCladlam) /hiting refinery to inspect tank Ho* 11 and observe cleaning operations on tank J.'o* 31 which were initiated this naming* Tank Ho* 51 is to be cleaned and disraantled as discussed in ay weekly letter last week* ihen I looked in the manhole of tank Iio* 11, a strong odor of fluid sas present* This tank had ben thor oughly cleaned* I entered the tank and carefully Issepectod it* Phe tank w&a absolutely free of all sludgej evon the surfaces at the wall and floor seams wsae cleaned down to dry scalo. dome loose, dry scale wao present on the roof at the manhole opening but this had the appearance o f dry iron ruat* This tank has three nanholeaj two in the walla and as in the roof* Hence, ventilation ie excellent* This being a sasall cleaning job, excellent work had been done and the only method by which the ta nk could have been ..-ado more clean would have been to build scaffolding and acrapo the entire surface. Jet, a strong odor of fluid persisted! ..r* binder and Dr. pussies wore asked to inspect the tank and agreed that the N22706 2- ' present s?aa on the roof .-cmhola mil; a surface normally out of contact with gasoline in tho tank* 1 cannot explain the `n.aence of tho odor* However, duo to tho facta outlined, it vjao decided that should further work to necessary in the tank or on the roof, full protective equipment would bo used* An odor was also present on tho roof r;hich had been lowered, further work was not necessary and the tank was returned to aervice. The gasoline la this tank is normally leaded to p.S fee's TiX/^allLon* (finished leaded aviation gasoline) Called at the Johnson Oil Supply in Cary, arid tested tho tsanlfold system* As several leaks wore found, it will be necessary to again teat after further work has been done* . AD0KB0AY dpent the morning at the standard Oil Company whiting refinery observing cleaning operations on tank No. 31* The afternoon was 3pent at tho tfofcth defining Company in Slue Island, Illinois discussing irregularities ana observing blending proceduo* A. quarterly inspection of their equipment was also made, .forth has continued to vjako TTTYL blends -- substandard red gasoline although they have repeatedly agreed to not do so* It is ay opinion that the forth Chicago office is deliberately attempting to bluff us. They apparently propose to openly make their red blends until wo stop thorn* orth' o cracking unit is now on stream and they m-ay be able to reach 50 oaiarte number CPA-k* Their last refinery sample, CHI 9 n a n , an aly se d 7^*2 CFH-& J gua co n t en t s a t is f a c t o r y * 0amplea will bo sent to Detroit of the new blending stock (cracking unit distillate) to determine if satisfactory NTHYL base can be produced. The camples and this situation are discussed in my letters dated October 2, 19**0? C.L. Davidson, copy J.h* Joudroau and J.5. doudreau copy C.L. Davidson. During supervision of tank cleaning job, many interesting items are sometimes discussed with foremen and tank cleaning personnel* Janie of these aro outlined here aorsly aa points of interest* They might well bo called -- -- '7*7'M ilt 3 7-iCSA ?HS CL8AKIH03 1. The cleaning of largo crude storage tanks which have accum ulated several foot of waxy tank-bottom sludge presents quite a problem* The H03 present constitutes a hasard for those men entering the tanks* Cue refiner in this area has solved the problem by building several steam eductors. These are inserted into the tank through the manholes and supplied with high pressure etesus* The sludge is drawn through the eductors and heated above ita melting point. In three or four days the sludge is melted and then readily pumped to slop tanks where it la charged to the coking stills* No entrance into tho tank is necessary* K*r 0022886 2. During the recent low level of activity in tho heavy industries in this area, one refiner build up such high in ventories of heavy fuel oils and road oil that it was necessary to store it in several large gasoline base stock tanks* Aftor the inventory had been reduced and it was desired to replace the tanks in white gasoline service, a cleaning problem presented itself* Conventional cleaning would have consisted of building scaffolding in the tanks ao that the entire surface could be approximately .`10,000 par tank; A novel ayotem was devised consisting of eighteen large lawn spray typo aprayersf go placed that the entire wall and roof surface was contacted by the liquid being sprayed. One foot of white tractor fuel was placed in the tanks and the spray system operated for a Cow hours. The tanka wore thoroughly cleaned by one wash and gasoline placed in the tanka did not lose a single point in color -- -- and the Job coat loss than 41,000 per tank. Cno large refinery in the Chicago area covers considerable territory and duo to spills, line leaks, etc. ranch oil ia loot into the qround. This not only causes serious sewer contamination (sewer oil bain:' recovered in separators) but also other diff iculties. For example, a large pipe still furnace upon bsin^ shut down .continued to burn -- this oounda like a tall story, but I happen to know that it is not -- due to oil seepage into the fir box up throu-di the ground* A drainage system has been placed in operation at various points in the refinery so that the oil flows to recovery boxes frees which it ia pumpod to 'the pressure otill charging stock tanka, burin some nontho ao3iS of these boxes have recovered as much as 70QQ barrels of oil. They are veritable producing oil wells! TEUgJbAY Tailed at 'hitlag standard Oil to observe clean- ins; operations on tank bo. 31. "his tank ia a 90* x pO*, ^4,000 bbl., fixed roof vessel in 3tanolind (leaded l ) gasolinesorvice. Cleaning operations wero completed today and dismantling operations will bo started next week. Called at East Chicago Shell in order to main tain tank cleaning notification in order, is Chell is shutting down, many personnel changes have token place and some of the former authority sen have loft fast Chicago* A meeting was held in hr* V . u , Parker's (Plant Tsnager) office with tir* marker, hr* l i , p , Ingereoll, and Ur Morgan present. These three men can authorise tank cleaning at `East Chicago which is now functioning as a terminal only* Cur tank cleaning program was discussed and it was agreed that any of these three authorizing a tank cleaning Job would notify us through the Chicago office*(ETHYL Chicago office)* This system will bo used until permanent personnel placement .makes possible designation of defInito authority non* Shell had a rather serious fire during the night of October Sadi* A clipping froia the Hammond (Indiana) Times, October 2, 19^0 is attached. Hr. Parker informed ae that the fire took place in a storage area and that the gas in the area was found to be from a leaking butane line. The fir was Ignited froa either a flashlight or the running motor of the gager's truck which was parked clooe by. -xact cause is not known* Earlier in the morning bholl had a forced shut down due to the burning of a power line pole leading into the plant* The heavy fog encountered in this area during the past few mornings had no netted tho insulator s and cross-arms that 'with the dust, and especially acid fog froa the concentrators and contact plants near by, they became virtual conductors and arced across the surfaces until a firo was started at tho top of tho pole* during tho night of October 1st, fourtsen power line poles of the Northern Indiana fubllc Service Company in K E 002288 .^allsd at the Johnson Oil Dupply in Cary to complete testing of tha piping in their plant now under construction. Jhe piping hag boon completed and tooted satisfactorily* Lockor room piloting and painting routine to to done. HU DAT ' Drove to the Globa Cil defining Company refinery at Lcssont, Illinoia. hade a quarterly inspection of the plant with hr. P.C. Csith who ia in charge of blending operations. Globe ffioderniaod their plant approximately on year ago and certain details of the work have not been completed to date. I have asked for completion several tirnee and recently wrote to iir. ii.3. Overton requesting that ho expedite thie work. As this has not b a m done, I called on v,r. Overton and again requested coapletion. Ho has promised that the work will us taken up in the very near future. hile at Globe, I also called on Or. .'.raus, Chief Chemist, regarding certain overleaded samples and aub-octans samples* s should not encounter overloaded samples fro- this point in the future as rsaxitsa lead in their ethyl blends hao been droppad to 2.3 - 2.5 cc'o rt'L/Jallon. Jr. rauoo has only one CFH engine in hia laboratory and it i3 often changed from iiotor to 1959 losearch test conditions. He ia ordering another engine and will be able to keep it on CF3-U service, this probably accounts for the fact that hia results deviate considerably from our Detroit Laboratory results, for example, Jr* Krauae blende for 80.3 ethyl at tho fefinery. Cur lab finds samples consistently below 80. 1 requested that Dr* Krauae write directly to our kr. C.L. Davidson in Detroit and attempt to work out satisfactory analytical methods. .Ho doubt much of the difficulty encountered with sub-atanuard camples from thia refinery has been caused by the fact that Dr. Krause's analytical procedures have boon in error in Globs'a favorj io., gum determinations low and octane nurawors high. Called at the Great Lakes Pipe Line Company 'or&ial in franklin dark, Illinoia and made a quarterly inspection on their blending planjr. Spent the afternoon at the Office completing reports, taking care of necessary corroapondence, and working on the proposed bulk plant tank cleaning tools. fours very truly. udiburg Hi 0022888