TANKS Software Operation• First time in this software

you need to add the meteorological data for your facility into the database

• To do this you will need to select “Cancel” on this window

• Then from the menu bar select:

Data > Meteorological > Edit Database

TANKS Software Operation

• After selecting Edit Database this screen will appear

• To add a new City you need to choose Add New

• The following Slide shows the data entry screen that appears

TANKS Software Operation• Enter the city / town and

province your facility is in• Then enter the monthly

meteorological data required.

– This information can be obtained from your weather office or by visiting: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/

• Once all the data has been entered select “Save” to add it to the database

• To exit this screen select “Close”

TANKS Software Operation

• If you choose to use the web site to get your meteorological data you will need to select “Meteorology and Solar Energy”

• After selecting “Meteorology and Solar Energy” you will see the option of “Meteorology and Solar Energy” under Data Retrieval, select the method you wish to use to seach the database

Select this option if you want to be able to click on a global map to find your location

If you know your facility’s latitude and longitude this is the best approach to take

TANKS Software Operation

• To access the data you will need to register with NASA Langley SSE• Registration is free and requires only minimal information

TANKS Software Operation

• After registering you will see this screen if you selected to search by latitude and longitude otherwise a global map will appear for you to make your location selection

TANKS Software Operation• After entering a location (either by Latitude and Longitude or by

graphic selection) a form will appear for you to select the data you are interested in obtaining.

• You will have the choice of learning the definition or the Values for the data you have selected.

• In order to get the numbers you need to enter into TANKS you have to select “Values” for “Parameters for Solar Cooking - Average insulation” and “Meteorology (Wind) - Wind Speed”, Pressure, air temperature

– For wind speeds select the “Wind Speed at 10 m for terrain similar to airports”

• To get the Maximum and Minimum temperatures you can go to the Environment Canada Green Lane (http://www.ec.gc.ca) and follow this path: Weather > Climate Data > Climate Normals > Province Selection > Town Selection

• Note the units from both websites are Metric and TANKS requires Imperial

TANKS Software Operation• After entering the meteorological data you can go directly into you

emission estimations by entering a new tank record• To enter a new tank record choose one of the tank options along the

top menu bar: – HFRT: Horizontal Floating Roof Tank– VRFT: Vertical Floating Roof Tank– IFRT: Internal Floating Roof Tank– EFRT: External Floating Roof Tank– DEFRT: Domed External Floating Roof Tank

• For information on these tanks type go to Chapter 7 “Organic Liquid Storage Tanks” in the US EPA’s AP-42 document :

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch07/final/c07s01.pdf

TANKS Software Operation

• If you have previously entered the meteorological data into the TANKS database you can go directly to “Create a New Tank Record”

• To do this instead of selecting “Cancel” you would select “Create a New Tank Record” and press “OK”

• After you have created the tank record it will appear in the “Open an Existing Tank Record” and can be accessed directly from this screen as well.

TANKS Software Operation

• After selecting “Create a New Tank Record” this screen will appear

• Enter an identification number or name that is accurate, meaningful and unlikely to change

• The description, province, city, and company fields are optional but are useful if you are reporting for more than one facility.

TANKS Software Operation

• After you have populated all the fields in the Identification tab move on to the Physical Characteristics tab

• Then enter the physical parameters of the tank in the fields provided

• Note the units the program uses and ensure you are using the correct units

TANKS Software Operation• After the physical

characteristics have been entered move on to the Site Selection tab

• To use this screen you will have first needed to add your city to the meteorological database

• Then select your city from the picklist

• The meteorological data will then automatically populate the cells below

TANKS Software Operation• Enter or define the

substance being stored in the tank

• You can add chemicals and mixture to the Chemical database in the same manner as the meteorological database– Again this must be done

before entering a new tank record.

– The chemical database is found in the same menu as the meteorological database.

TANKS Software Operation• Enter the name of the

mixture and its throughput for the each month

• The “Distribute Throughput” button will evenly distribute the annual throughput over the months

• If only one mixture is stored in the tank over the year use the “Fill Mixture Name With First Mixture Name” button

TANKS Software Operation• Before running the report save the

record by selecting “Save”• After you have saved the record select

“Run Report”• On this screen you will need to select

what type of report you are interested in running (Brief, Summary or Detail)

• Then you will need to select the time basis (Annual or Monthly)

• If you select monthly you will need to select the months you are interested in.

• Once you have made all the selections hit “OK” to run.

TANKS Software Operation• After running the report you will be

asked to select a print style for the report.

• You can print to your screen, printer, or to a file.

• Since a record of all NPRI calculation needs to be kept for 3 years it is recommended to print to either a file or printer and then make sure the report isn’t lost or misplaced.

• TANKS report output is in pounds (lbs)

Remember to watch your units, you will need to convert from Metric to Imperial to run TANKS then back to Metric for

reporting to the NPRI

TANKS Software Operation• If you decide to store your information in electronic format then

choose print to file.

– It doesn’t matter which report style you have chosen (brief, summary or detail) the resultant file is the same for all three reports.

– The default location to save the file is Program files > TANKS 4.0, however you can change the location by using the Browse function when asked for the Export file name

– It is recommended to save the file as an Excel file, which will allow you to work with the releases generated by the TANKS program