Ron Oomkes (Vopak)
In various ways, KH Engineering is helping storage giant Vopak become more sustainable. The company is building more flexibility and capacity for the fuels and raw materials of the future and is making their terminals more energy-efficient. In doing so, they choose a mix of large and smaller projects, all of which contribute to Vopak's new direction.
Vopak, world market leader in independent storage of liquid bulk, is stepping into the transition to new raw materials and renewable energy in several ways. For instance, the company is investing in infrastructure for LNG, hydrogen, ammonia, renewable raw materials and flow batteries. This sometimes requires changes, expansions or whole new tank storage terminals. In designing these, KH Engineering has been helping Vopak for decades, and since 2015 within a framework contract. The terminals themselves are also becoming increasingly sustainable. A lot is being done to save energy, for instance. Here, Vopak also calls on KH Engineering's expertise, because the engineers of KH Engineering like to look beyond the specific demand at a certain location.
Small and large projects
'The energy transition has a lot of different aspects and that is reflected in everything Vopak is working on’, says Vopak's Director of Projects and Engineering Ron Oomkes. He is responsible for engineering and execution of Vopak's medium- and large-scale projects in Europe and Africa. 'The projects are hugely diverse and range from small to large,' says Ron. 'In recent years, Vopak has changed direction. We are investing less and less in infrastructure for crude oil and more and more in renewable. We are investing in infrastructure for gas and renewable energy, from hydrogen to electricity storage in batteries and from ammonia to CO2 storage. Our tank storage expansion in Vlaardingen is a recent example of new product storage and blending, namely for aviation biofuels.'
E-boilers
Vopak is also making its own terminals more sustainable. 'For example, we are switching from gas to e-boilers', Ron continues. ‘E-boilers are electric boilers that can heat the products in our tanks. Interestingly, we can choose when these e-boilers are switched on, because the heating does not have to be on continuously. This allows us to use electricity at times when there is a surplus from sun and wind. That helps in balancing the electricity grid and it is more cost-effective because the price of electricity is very low at such moments.’
Agile
'KH Engineering is currently helping us with some relatively smaller projects’, says Ron. 'At our Europoort location, we are connecting to an industrial customer via a pipeline, where this customer had to use other means of transport up till now. Through a pipeline this is more efficient, safer and with a lower footprint. At the Botlek location, we are adapting our chemical terminal to other, new types of products. The cooperation with KH Engineering is very good and solid. We have been working together for years. I see KH Engineering as a robust agency in quality, and at the same time as very agile. Because this time of transition sometimes requires out-of-the box thinking, quick decisions and creativity, we like to call on them.'
The bigger picture
'We also look at the bigger picture for Vopak’, explains Discipline Manager Projects Jack van Vliet of KH Engineering. 'What costs money in one place can generate money a little further down the chain or even at the same terminal. Think of heat recovery, or the example mentioned by Ron of electrification of keeping biofuels at the right temperature in storage tanks, for example.'
'At the same time’, Jack continues, 'we need to keep our eyes open for developments 'out of the gate'. You may want to electrify some processes, but is there enough electricity? We are already seeing that in some regions you are put on a waiting list to strengthen your connection. This then raises a new issue, that we would like to find a new solution for. Can we, for instance, make smarter use of the pumping capacity and thus save energy? Or can we recover heat elsewhere in the installation and use it for this purpose? We also think about questions like that and give advice.’
For more information about Vopak, please visit: www.vopak.com.