When it is working. Are there several individual pipes in it (91,95,Diesel,Avgas,JetA1 etc) or does it carry only JetA1? I can't see how you could change brews without cross contamination.
supernova2,
Sep 21, 8:44am
1 type after the other. Yes it cross contaminates but they pull the "mixed" bit out and reprocess it at Wiri.
Marsden Pt is a little different because we use Pigs to separate the fuel types and clean the pipeline.
serf407,
Sep 21, 9:13am
If it was $300 million for a 2nd pipeline, did it make more sense to build an international Airport at Paengaroa as iwi have suggested, rather than building the 2nd runway at Mangere, the planes at mangere would still be supplied by a 32 yr + (how many years to build the 2nd runway) = x year old pipeline. It would take only 30 kilometres of pipeline from the fuel depot at Mt Maunganui to pump from jet fuel supply tanker ship to a Paengaroa Airport storage facility. (and makes more sense than a Hamilton Int airport which 80 km from the Mt Maunganui fuel depot and 130 plus Km from the Wiri depot.
whqqsh,
Sep 21, 4:10pm
its a very long round piece of steel that has a not quite as big round hole going down the middle, stuff that we want to move from one place to another pours through the middle hole part. thats how a pipeline works
muzz67,
Sep 21, 5:08pm
Lucky the pipe runs from north to south too,,ie uses gravity ,so fuel falls out at Auks.
whqqsh,
Sep 21, 5:16pm
& therein lies the trick, thats why the Alaskan pipeline goes North to South! You can cut openings in the top of the pipe & get people with paddles to 'shoo' it through bit quicker
muzz67,
Sep 21, 5:18pm
Only non-smokers tho, right.
whqqsh,
Sep 21, 5:41pm
depends on whats going through the pipe, in this case yup, no smokers. but maybe a quick puff to the side of your mouth if really desperate
moby,
Sep 21, 10:54pm
Thanks you and serf for explaining that before all the wombats jumped on the thread.
3tomany,
Sep 21, 11:07pm
The refinery has a very good visitor centre that explains it all. If you or anyone is driving north it is worth taking an hour to visit and leave reasonably well educated. To answer the question it does mix but only i believe a meter or two and it is drawn out for reprocessing.
whqqsh,
Sep 21, 11:22pm
I had some pork chops the other night that I thought tasted a bit benzeney. now I know. or maybe it was a wombat?
vic008,
Sep 22, 11:07pm
People are saying that they dont use pigs in that line, call it face to face.
socram,
Sep 23, 5:06am
It would make far more sense to have another international airport north of Marsden point.
Fuel going north, fuel going south. Easier than dualling the pipeline and halves the risk. Wouldn't do tourism any harm either. May create many much needed jobs for the north too and that can't be bad and could take a load off the chaos around Auckland airport.
ross1970,
Sep 25, 4:59am
Why would you put an international airport in the middle of nowhere? people flying into NZ don't want to land in "wherethefarewe"
socram,
Sep 25, 5:10am
For the same reason that Walt Disney built Disneyland in the middle of nowhere. The infrastructure builds up around it very rapidly and creates jobs - thousands of them. Look at Disneyworld in Florida as a classic example of buying up enough land where it was really cheap and look at it now.
Many tourists tend to start in the south island and head north and hate back tracking, so they could just as easily start in the north then head south.
An international airport north of the harbour bridge and north of Marsden point would be of value to anyone living north of the bridge giving them an option of avoiding the growing chaos around Mangere.
The more Auckland expands, the more important it is that we have alternatives and not just on a pipeline. Housing would be cheaper as land would be cheaper and the opportunity to plan somewhere for a change, instead of the totally unstructured chaotic growth of Auckland.
m16d,
Sep 25, 6:07am
All the cross contaminated brews are just put in the 91 tank.
mojo49,
Sep 25, 6:24am
sr2. They stopped using pigs quite a long time ago. Just separate the small amount of mixed fuels at Wiri and reprocess it. Quite clever.
purplegoat,
Sep 25, 6:31am
they don'nt reprocess the " mix " at Wiri , It goes into a " slops tank and then gets metered / blended into the 91 at a micsroscopic level that ensures the petrol is still on spec
serf407,
Sep 25, 7:33am
+ one. The info trailers with the lights are still around Mangere. The thing to bear in mind everytime even international airport upgrade is mentioned anywhere the cost most frequently mentioned is US$800 million. Mangere is only 7 metres/ 23 ft above sea level.
Wombats have not been used in clearing pipeline blockages since the late 50's when activists stuck their beaks in.
mohaka,
Sep 25, 8:26am
The pipeline only seems to be used to supply Jet A1 to holding tanks 170 kms away. If it was operating anything like ones when i was working for a oil company,pigs are used and the line is pressurised.
mohaka,
Sep 25, 8:38am
Guessed wrong-to add from Wiki-transports petrol, diesel and jet fuel at up to 400,000 litres (105,669 US gallons) per hour
emmerson1,
Sep 25, 9:13am
I understand that's why the African pipelines have so many problems with explosions.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.