At a product terminal, most bad days start quietly: a receipt runs faster than planned, a tank gauge sticks while product keeps arriving, or a rim seal gap leaks vapour for months. Overfill, inventory gaps and fugitive emissions usually sit with three teams, yet they share the same tanks and gauges. This guide shows how AI for tank farms watches all three, and where people and certified measurement still decide. See it on a live receipt in a 30-minute terminal walkthrough.
Know When a Receipt Will Reach High-High Before the Alarm Does
iFactory projects every receipt against the levels of concern you set under API 2350, compares the tank gauge with the independent alarm and flags fugitive emission signs from OGI surveys. Operators get a plain warning in minutes, not a surprise at the alarm.
The Level Ladder Every Receipt Is Measured Against
API Standard 2350, Overfill Prevention for Storage Tanks in Petroleum Facilities, is in its 5th edition (2020, reaffirmed 2025). It covers aboveground atmospheric tanks holding Class I or Class II petroleum liquids at refining, marketing, pipeline and terminal sites. Each tank gets calculated levels of concern, and every alarm and alert hangs from them. The AI does not set these levels. Your overfill prevention process does, and the system reads them as fixed limits. Check how your current levels fit with our terminal support team.
Turning a Flow Rate Into Minutes of Room
The arithmetic is simple, which is why it gets skipped on a busy night. Take the level gap to HH, convert it to barrels with the tank's strapping chart, and divide by the current receipt rate. iFactory repeats that every gauge scan, using the measured rate rather than the nominated one, so a pipeline surge or a second receipt shows up as fewer minutes straight away. Run the projection on one of your own tanks in a live projection session.
When the Gauge and the Independent Alarm Disagree
A Category 3 tank has two ways of knowing the level: the automatic tank gauge (ATG) and a separate high-high sensor. The useful signal is the moment their stories stop matching, or when one goes silent while flow continues. iFactory compares the ATG trend with the metered receipt, the independent sensor's status and its proof-test record, and raises a gauge integrity flag. Ask our instrument specialists which patterns matter most for your gauges.
Ask the Tank Farm, Hear It Back in Plain Words
iFactory pairs AI vision from OGI surveys with emissions and level analytics, so a terminal supervisor can ask about any tank and get receipt timing, gauge health and open leak items in one answer. Every answer points back to the readings behind it.
Book Versus Gauged, Corrected to 60°F
A tank's book inventory comes from receipts and deliveries. Its gauged inventory comes from a level reading, converted to volume and corrected to standard temperature using API MPMS practice: Chapter 3.1B for automatic gauging, Chapter 7 for temperature, Chapter 11.1 for volume correction factors and Chapter 12.1.1 for static quantity calculations. The AI tracks the gap between the two, tank by tank, and flags drift long before month-end. Walk through your own gain and loss report in a reconciliation demo.
- Trends gauged minus book for each tank and product
- Flags a gap that grows across several gauge cycles
- Links the gap to the receipt, delivery or transfer that opened it
- Points to likely causes: gauge drift, temperature probe, valve passing
- Custody transfer quantities set by your meters, provers and contracts
- Opening and closing gauges taken under API MPMS procedures
- Any correction to the book, approved by the accountable owner
- Dispute resolution with shippers and carriers
Rim Seals Are Where Tank Vapour Escapes Quietly
On a floating roof tank, most standing losses pass through the rim seal and roof fittings. NSPS subpart Kb sets inspection intervals for covered vessels in 40 CFR 60.113b, and the gasoline distribution rules add their own fitting and monitoring requirements. iFactory keeps each tank's seal history and due dates in one record, linked to OGI findings on the same roof. Set up seal records for your tanks with our emissions support team.
The 2024 gasoline distribution amendments require internal floating roof tanks under the NESHAPs to keep vapour above the floating roof below 25% of the lower explosive limit, with annual LEL monitoring. Confirm the exact terms in your permit.
What an Optical Gas Imaging Survey Can and Cannot See
Optical gas imaging cameras show hydrocarbon vapour as a visible plume when there is enough temperature contrast and the wind is not too strong. They do not measure tank level, and on their own they do not give a leak rate. iFactory's AI vision reviews survey footage, flags likely plumes with their location and passes them to a qualified OGI operator to confirm. See flagged footage from a terminal survey in a short OGI review.
A flagged plume is a prompt to look, not a confirmed leak. Where a rule allows OGI for compliance, the survey must follow its protocol, such as Appendix K to 40 CFR part 60, including operator qualification and viewing conditions.
Which Air Rules Reach a Storage Terminal
Terminal emissions rules depend on the product, the source size and when each tank was built or modified. The matrix below is a starting map for US sites, not legal advice, and it reflects status in late 2026, including EPA's September 2026 reconsideration proposal for the 2024 gasoline rules. Check how it lines up with your permit with our compliance support team.
One Leak Record From First Image to Re-Check
LDAR programmes stand or fall on their records: every finding dated, tagged, repaired in time and re-checked. iFactory builds the record from the OGI flag, the work order and the follow-up reading, so nobody has to rebuild it from notebooks. These are the fields a terminal record usually needs. See a filled record from a sample survey in a records walkthrough.
Gauge Feeds, OGI Review and Edge Server, Delivered Ready
iFactory delivers tank farm AI as a turnkey package. A pre-configured NVIDIA AI server ships racked and ready, with receipt projection, gauge comparison and OGI plume models loaded, so data stays on your site. You rack it, plug in power and Ethernet, and the AI is live. It reads your existing gauges and SCADA through standard interfaces and never writes to the control system. Scope it for your terminal with our deployment team.
- Pre-configured NVIDIA AI edge server, racked and ready
- Read-only links to tank gauges, meters and SCADA
- Level ladder and category set-up for every tank
- Receipt projection and gauge disagreement alerts
- AI review of OGI survey footage
- Seal, LDAR and reconciliation records in one place
- 24×7 remote monitoring of models and hardware
Server installed, gauges and meters linked, levels of concern and categories loaded for each tank.
Projections and gauge checks run silently beside operators, and past OGI footage is reviewed to tune flags.
Warnings switched on, supervisors trained, reconciliation and LDAR records running daily.
Built for Terminals That Run Through the Night
iFactory sits beside your gauges, alarms and LDAR programme. It watches the signals your operators watch, and leaves every decision with them. Plan a first tank group with us in a planning call.
What Terminal Managers Ask About Tank Farm AI
Every Receipt Timed, Every Seal on Record
Give operators minutes of warning before HH, catch gauge faults while product is still arriving and keep one clean record from OGI image to repair. Delivered turnkey and live in 6 to 12 weeks.
