This company has a different approach to tank degassing. While others use combustion equipment we found there is a better alternative that offers significant advantages. It is called the PURGIT vapor condensing system.

Purgit condenser at a tankfarm

The PURGIT system was developed by Hank Hilliard who has been in the tank cleaning and degassing business since 1972. No one in Houston (the world capital for tank degassing and cleaning) has been in the business longer or cleaned more tanks. Between 1972 and 1993 he managed the barge cleaning dock at Southwestern Barge Shipyard in Channelview TX. That facility degassed thousands and thousands of tank barges and pioneered some important vapor control techniques. For instance Southwestern installed the first vapor flare for LP tank barges in Houston and the first vapor flare for tank barge degassing in any shipyard. In 1992 he left the shipyard and started PURGIT to provide vapor control as a service. PURGIT started out trying to use industry standard equipment like thermal oxidizers and IC engines but found too many drawbacks associated with those devices.

PURGIT developed a condensing system that uses a closed loop – it can actually degas a tank without ever opening up the tank. Vapors are circulated from the tank to the condenser back to the tank. The operational and environmental benefits are obvious. No unprotected source of ignition, high flow rate even with concentrated tank vapor and recovery of the cargo vapor back to liquid.

Our method is the most advanced in the tank degassing industry. We move in to your site with our specialized equipment to do the job quickly and thoroughly. It is easy to verify that there are no emissions and that we meet the TCEQ rules. Our equipment is easy to set up and connect to the tank through the manway or nozzles on the tank. Instead of burning the tank vapors, we condense them back to liquid.

Condensing is safer because there is no source of ignition. It is environmentally correct because it does not make any CO2, NOx or CO. It does not have an exhaust stack. It controls chlorinated solvents without scrubbing and does not make pollution or hazardous waste as a by-product.

PURGIT continues to research and develop vapor control. For instance, we discovered that one of the important things we do is that we mix the vapors in the tank. Our closed vent system returns the non-condensable vapors back to the tank. That is significant because it stirs up the tank vapors and that eliminates stagnant vapor clouds. Mixing makes the cargo on the floor evaporate faster and it makes the vapors homogeneous for testing. No thermal oxidizer can do that. PURGIT is the only company that can mix the vapors.

PURGIT is a certified Small Business Enterprise (SBE)