Refining the Refinery

[Philip H]

While car upgrades continue on th etank car fleet, I've started to assemble the pieces for my refinery complex.  This is an old blog entry on it, but gives you an idea:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/1181

And here's a pic:



Basically. most of the refinery will be represented by a photo backdrop, withthe  North Island kit standing in for a bit of it.  There are three tracks in the back for loading/unloading, and at least two o fthem will have platforms, pipes, etc.

But for the third one, closest to the wall, I'm thinking baout adding a plastic pellet loader for variety.  That would allow me to get a small fleet of covered hoppers and make switching that much more complicated.

That said, I've hit a sticking point - I can't seem to find any good photos of a plant that converts refined petroleum (say, from a refinery) into said pellets.  Makes it hard to figure out what to model back there.

Anyone got any pics?  Ideas? references?

[Blazeman]

I'm not a ChemE but my exposure with my company (not in petrochems) is there is a pipeline of monomer (in our situations) that is processed and converted to a more solid form that then is extruded to shape the pellets.

Simply a big box building, corrugated metal if you will since most are on the Gulf Coast, and attach a covered area to run the cars into for filling.

Of course, that requires a few tracks for staging all the covered hoppers since these operations run in campaigns and fill dozens of cars in anticpation of orders. A whole new industry has come to the Houston area dedicated to parking industry-leased covered hoppers, both empty and filled.

That would be a very simple "industry" to depict. The space on the layout would be filled with track and a small office or trailer to oversee.

[sirenwerks]

Blazeman, if you have a location for Philip, he could get on one of the MS map site and see the facility for himself, quite possibly in bird's eye to get a modelers sense of the site.

Philip, GreenMax makes a number of interesting kits with all sorts of piping, tanks, widgets and geegaws that might help you build a sense of what you're looking for.

[Philip H]

Thanks guys.

Bryan,
I think I have one of those Green Max kits somewhere in the pit that my trainroom/office has become . . .

[Blazeman]

Try this location for Google Earth

12212 Port Road
77057 - Pasadena
Texas

[cv_acr]

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarnia,+on&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.853336,56.337891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sarnia,+Lambton+County,+Ontario&ll=42.848833,-82.425249&spn=0.003721,0.010943&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarnia,+on&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.853336,56.337891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sarnia,+Lambton+County,+Ontario&ll=42.897425,-82.439239&spn=0.003718,0.010943&t=h&z=17


If it's strictly a plastics making facility, it wouldn't have the same sort of towers as a refinery, those fractioning towers are where the crude oil is distilled into different products by evaporating and the different components of different densities condense at different points up the tower and are drawn off. The plastics making facility would make its product using a specific feedstock.

Now, a really large refinery complex may have other products plants located on the same property; so a plant may have basic refining as well as plastics units. Imperial Oil's refinery in Sarnia is a good example because they do refining of raw crude and they also have chemical, plastics and packaging facilities there.
Of course, these would be separate units, but the loading areas need not be right next to their respective units either. The loading tracks would be located where most convenient and the product piped over (in the case of pellets they would be moved pneumatically in delivery pipes) so having all your loading tracks in the same area would be appropriate.
The pellet loader would likely be a covered shed with silo(s) holding the pellets to load into covered hoppers.

Here's Imperial's pellet loading area, note the huge storage yards to the east of the unit.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarnia,+on&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.853336,56.337891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sarnia,+Lambton+County,+Ontario&ll=42.947133,-82.403845&spn=0.003715,0.010943&t=h&z=17

[John]

I am struggling also with making this work, in a relatively small area .. I think the background photo is a great idea ..

Here is mine so far

[NCDaveD]

Here are a couple of pictures of what I have done so far on my pike. Still have a ways to go....

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/104162/ppuser/4844/sl/n
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/104165/ppuser/4844/sl/n
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/104163/ppuser/4844/sl/n
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/104164/ppuser/4844/sl/n

Man I hope these post OK...this is my first try.

I am working on a new NTrak module set (8') that hopefully will be a chemical company, but only have the mainlines run so far. There will be a switching area for the loading platform and storage tracks (if it all works out, that is  ).

NCDaveD

[Philip H]

I am struggling also with making this work, in a relatively small area .. I think the background photo is a great idea ..

Here is mine so far

John,
THe background photo is a free stock image off the internet tahat I had printed on 11x17 paper at Kinkos.  I set it with a Krylon product sold for scrapbooking that sets laserjet photos.  I need to mount it, but it came out really close to scale, so yeh, I think it was a good idea.

NCDave,

You are doing agreat job capturing the look if the prototype.  I'd add a perimeter fence of some kind when you get a chance.

[NCDaveD]

Thanks Philip. Yep, got to keep those interlopers out. I also need to add the safety berms, oil spots on the ground and such. You have a wonderful start on your refinery as well. Most of the photo's I found were of oil refineries, so I'm not sure if they would be useful to you. All of the loading/unloading facilities are your basic liquid petroleum handling platforms.

NCDaveD

[Ntrainz1]

Bob.