Image: SensoTech GmbH
A single misfill can contaminate inventory, halt transfers, and lead to safety and environmental incidents. This risk affects not only tank farms and tank terminals, but also on-site tank farms, storage tanks and process tanks at chemical and process plants – where chemicals are delivered, temporarily stored, or fed into production processes. The LiquiScope system provides a solution for automated, real-time liquid identification. It verifies incoming product inline and provides early alerts when deviations occur. LiquiScope is based on continuous ultrasonic measurement of sound velocity in the flowing liquid. The measured values are automatically compared with stored reference values — similar to a “digital fingerprint.” If the values deviate from the expected product, an alert is triggered immediately so filling or transfer can be stopped before a misfill occurs. The solution addresses applications where liquids must be clearly verified before storage, custody transfer, or feeding into the process, such as:
• Tank farms & tank terminals: verification at goods receipt before storage, and during transfers/product changeovers
• Chemical and process plants: incoming inspection at on-site tank farms (hazardous materials storage) as well as at storage/process tanks before feeding into the process
• Pipelines and loading/unloading points: monitoring the product before it reaches the tank farm or plant
In many applications, one defined liquid is assigned to each tank. Here, LiquiScope can be used as a setpoint-versus-actual check: a target sound-velocity value is stored; if the measured value falls significantly outside the tolerance, a deviation is detected and filling can be interrupted. Recorded data is available locally on the device display and centrally in the control system. This allows automatic product verification to be integrated into existing workflows, helping operators increase process safety, quality assurance and efficiency while reducing manual checks. — SensoTech GmbH, Magdeburg-Barleben, Germany