An Engineering Office is an Engineering Office
Okay, I’ve been working in the pipeline industry for a week and a half now and the one thing that strikes me above anything else is that one engineering office is pretty much like the next. I’ve learned a few interesting things about the pipeline business but overall it’s just a pump pushing a liquid through a pipe. The electrical drawings are pretty much the same, the instrumentation is pretty much the same and the programming is pretty much the same as any other engineering office works with.
I was wondering how the different products were seperated in the pipe when switching from one grade of fuel to another. The answer is they aren’t. There is very little mixing between the two batches and the mix just goes into the lower grade’s tank. Gasoline is in one pipe and other fuels are in another. Diesel and Jet-A can share a pipe and gasoline, regardless of the grade, goes into the gasoline pipe. The branding additives are added as the gasoline goes into the tanker truck.
I am sort of amazed that a pump in Tampa can push gasoline through a 16″ pipeline all the way to Orlando with no booster pumps along the way. I was amused to learn that a lubricant made up of very long-chained polymers is used to “grease the pipe” to allow a petroleum based product to move through the lines easier. The amusement comes from it’s name, “elephant snot”.
Except for the commute, I really like this job so far. If things pan out I may be moving to Alpharetta in the future… or maybe not. I really like Lawrenceville, also.
Life | Larry D. Burton | 30 August 2006 |
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By Felix Miller, 9/1/2006 @ 7:39 pm
Glad to see you are settling in smoothly, Larry. Regarding the shipments through the pipeline, have you seen any mention of a “sinister pig?”
Heh. Inquiring Tony Hillerman fans want to know.
By Larry D. Burton, 9/1/2006 @ 9:05 pm
I’ve seen lots of references to pigs and pig traps but none sinister.