Oil storage in IBC Containers

Lubrication Program / Lubricant Analysis Sector: Power Generation Topic: Storage of oil in IBC-type containers (1000 liters) and its impact on the availability of generation groups Publish date: December 2021

- Jorge Alarcon

The storage of lubricants in 1000 liter deposits is quite common in the vast majority of industrial areas and is the preferred type of storage especially in power generation plants that have gas or steam Turbines, compressors and turbochargers.

The oil in these containers can be stored for a long time until it is necessary to transfer it to the generation system and in many cases this is where some problems begin.

This article addresses a couple of case studies in order to guide the end user on the necessary considerations that must be taken into account when working with this type of containers and, above all, reveals the impact it has on the availability of the power generation group.

Case 1: Stored oil

Perhaps one of the main questions when buying oil in this type of container is, how long does the oil last? Redirecting the question from a more technical aspect, the end user wants to know the time he has to store the oil without changing its properties and functional characteristics. For strictly commercial reasons, the combined cycle (2 gas turbines and one steam turbine) which we will call "CCA" had up to 18,000 liters of ISO VG 32 oil stored in IBC tanks.