Buoyed by robust and niche enquiries for various robotic applications in the petroleum industry, Beta Tank Robotics Pvt. Ltd. (BetaTANK) has decided to expand on its portfolio of robotic solutions for oil industry tanks. BetaTANK’ petroleum tank robots are specialised robots, using hydraulics to control and power the robot, and does not use electronics and servo motors. These robots are made to meet the stringent Oil industry safety and Explosion proof Standards. Besides petrochemical industry tanks, BetaTANK is aiming at providing Robotic solutions for shipboard tank cleaning. As per DC Sekhar, MD of BetaTANK, and an ex Merchant Navy Oil Tanker Captain himself, since the initial crude oil robot project was a challenging project, the core knowhow achieved by the company so far is enough to adapt and customise these robots to meet these varied application demands. Sekhar also shared that the company had a very good exhibition at Indian Energy Week in Feb this year and won the Best Start Up Award. BetaTANK has received many enquiries for robotic solutions since then, to cater to varied applications in the petroleum industry.

The company has already prototyped two robotic solutions so far – (1) For cleaning bottom sludge of large crude oil storage tanks in refineries and (2) To clean retail outlet underground tanks. The crude oil tank robot is in an advanced stage of safety approvals and launch. As per DC Sekhar, this robot is superior to available technologies worldwide on two counts i.e its compact size, enabling it to move under heating coils and secondly having a pump on the robot. This pump discharge pressure is more effective in moving thick sludge, as compared to prevailing approach of vacuuming the oil sludge using a vacuum truck.

As per DC Sekhar, his main focus remains to de-risk the human risks in tank cleaning operations for the petrochemical industry. The faster tank cleaning turnaround using robots is just the collateral benefit.

Web: www.betatankrobotics.com, Email: sekhar@betatankrobotics.com.