David Picard, Clearstone Engineering, describes monitoring work at a Calgary retail gas station to improve model predictions for vapour emissions from petroleum storage tanks. Seasonal and diurnal effects were observed through the monitoring system. This has led to a new model of air and petroleum tank mixing based on different temperatures of air and liquid. An improved model to estimate evaporation losses has reduced average errors to less than 10% (and eliminated underestimation of vapour loss from underground storage tanks).
David Picard's presentation was part of the Air Quality forum hosted by PTAC in September 2012.
