Tank roofs and domes – Tank storage operators are turning to aluminium domes and internal floating roofs to cut costs and emissions ...

While more than 10,000 aluminium domes have been installed on petrochemical storage tanks in the United States, only a fraction of that number have been installed in the rest of the world says Jeannie Campbell, Vice President at aluminium dome supplier Conservatek.

"Although aluminium domes have been in service on petrochemical storage tanks in the United States since the 1970's, they only began to be used in the rest of the world in the 1990s," she says.

One possible reason for this is that the largest suppliers of aluminium domes are in the US, and none of these companies is particularly large.

"Selling internationally is not something a company does until it reaches a certain size," suggests Campbell.

Conservatek, for example, which started up in 1977, began turning its attention to the internaitonal market between 10 and 15 years ago, but only in the last two years has international business been significant for the company. In a more general way, Campbell suggests that terminal operators are "a little suspicious of what they regard as new technology", which may help to explain why aluminium domes, with their host of advantages, are not used more widely.

Another source or resistance may be tank builders, she adds, some of whom may prefer to build a steel roof than buy an aluminium dome and install it.

"The make more profit if they build the roof themesleves," says Campbell. At the customer level, some terminal operators may still be unaware of the technology, or have doubts about its performance and durability, she adds.

But these attitudes are starting to change .

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