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1. What is the PESO certification for India?
The PESO certification or more precisely Petroleum and Explosive Safety
Organisation of India registration describes the mandatory approval program for
the oil and gas industry or products that work with gases, are used in the oil
industry, or that have to withstand very corrosive environments. The PESO
certification was previously called the Chief Controller of Explosives (CCOE)
examination and is based on the Explosives Act of 1884 and the Petroleum Act of
1934 and all related legislation thereafter, in particular the Explosives Rules of 2008
and the Petroleum Rules of 2002 (for a detailed list, check the overview on Indian
PESO Standards).
Products that need a PESO certificate in India especially include explosion proof
products, pressure vessels and products for the oil, coal, gas and mining industry.
This applies in particular to explosion-proof products, pressure vessels and products
for the oil, coal, gas and mining industries.
Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization Logo
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Which products are covered by PESO?
A detailed list of products needing certification can be found here. Apart from the
products mentioned above also electrical equipment that needs to withstand highly
corrosive saltwater or very hot environments require a PESO registration. Purely
mechanical components are also subject to PESO certification if they are used in
hazardous areas in India.
Generally, one can follow a very simple principle for explosion-proof products: All
products that need either IECEx or ATEX certification also need PESO.
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Why the change from CCOE to PESO?
With the aim of simplifying administration and the increasing specialisation of the
authority, the original Department of Explosives (with head office in Nagpur and
the CCoE at the top) was transformed into the current Petroleum and Explosives
Safety Organisation since 2010. The CCoE is still at the top but is now called the
Chief Inspector of Explosives. In addition, CCoE is also the formal title of the Indian
auditors as well as all directors within the organisation who are responsible for
issuing certificates & licences. Therefore, the term “CCoE certification” is still widely
used.
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Is PESO certification mandatory
Generally speaking, all products that have IECEx or ATEX certification, also need
PESO. Please be aware, however, that due to the generally more dangerous nature
of the products that fall under PESO, higher diligence is also required by the
companies that want to have their products certified. For example, past and
expected future sales numbers could be requested, or other related commercial
information such as existing clients or client reviews.
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Detailed process of PESO certification in India
1. Preparation of application documents, especially ATEX/
IECEx certificates and test reports
2. Application at PESO authority
3. Checking of application documents by PESO
4. Only for certain products: Tests in India
5. Only for certain products such as pressure vessels:
Factory audit
6. Issuance of PESO certificate
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How does the certification process work?
In most cases, up-to-date ATEX or IECEx certificates and their test reports as well
as QAR/QAN are accepted. Certification is thus in general limited to a purely
administrative process of document verification. Experience shows that the volume
of documents required is relatively large but can vary from project to project (approx.
50-100 documents).
How to apply for PESO certification?
Besides the documents required for the application, the authority also requests
information on the manufacturer, its Indian representative (AIR), the
products/components, the plant, as well as commercial information.
For more detailed information on how you can get PESO certification, please check
the overview for the application documents for the Indian PESO certification.
Please be aware that, just like in most other Indian certifications, you will need a
local Indian applicant (Authorized Indian Representative, AIR). PESO also has
special requirements for the Indian representative. On the one hand, the
representative must be technically qualified and trained for your product, on the
other hand, a contractual commitment of the AIR for at least 5 years is necessary.
The AIR can be provided in several ways, e.g. through your own subsidiary or sales
office in India, or through external service providers. If desired, we can support you
in the provision of the AIR.
In more complex cases, on-site acceptance and possibly even tests in India may still
be required. In any case, the documents must be up to date with the latest
standards and preferably not older than 2 years.
Apart from the classic PESO certification, in some cases it is also possible to carry
out an individual approval in India. Experience has shown that this is more cost effective and the requirements for the documents are lower as well. However, the
products and components approved within the scope of the individual approval can
only be used in the context of the project for which the approval was granted. This
type of approval is therefore particularly suitable for companies that only want to
import small quantities to India as part of a single shipment.
For more information about the certification process in general, please read our
page PESO certification process.
After a certificate has been issued, proper change management is crucial to
maintain its warranty. Read more on this topic on our article about PESO change
management.
Horace Horton’s Spheres
Petroleum Transportation
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company erected a spherical
pressure vessel in 1923.
Seen from the highway, they look like giant eggs or perhaps fanciful Disney architectural
projects. A Chicago bridge builder invented the distinctive high-pressure storage globes, once
constructed by riveting together wrought iron plates.
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I) officially named their “Hortonspheres” (also called
Horton spheres) after Horace Ebenezer Horton, the company founder and inventor of the round
vessels. His creation of a highly efficient storage tank was one of the great innovations to come
to the oil patch.
Hortonspheres, the trademarked name of many containers like these, were invented by a bridge builder.
Horton (1843-1912), the son of a successful Rochester, New York, real estate developer, grew
up in Chicago. Skilled in mechanical engineering, he was 46 years old when he formed CB&I in
1889. His company had built seven bridges across the Mississippi River when its Washington
Heights, Illinois, fabrication plant expanded into the manufacture of water tanks.
Horace Ebenezer Horton (1843-1912) founded the company that would build the world’s first “field-erected
spherical pressure vessel.”
CB&I erected its first elevated water tank in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1892, according to
the company, which notes that “the elevated steel plate tank was the first built with a full
hemispherical bottom, one of the company’s first technical innovations.”
When Horton died in 1912, his company was just getting started. Soon, the company’s elevated
tank towers were providing efficient water storage and pipeline pressure that benefited many
cities and towns. CB&I’s first elevated “Watersphere” tank was completed in 1939 in Longmont,
Colorado.
Improved Metal Structures
The company had brought its steel plate engineering expertise to the oil and natural gas industry
as early as 1919, when it built a petroleum tank farm in Glenrock, Wyoming, for Sinclair Refining
Company (formed by Harry Sinclair in 1916).
Horace E. Horton designed spherical storage vessels for his Chicago Bridge & Iron Company. Photo courtesy
CB&I.
CB&I’s innovative steel plate structures and its tank building technologies proved a great
success. The company left bridge building entirely to supply the petroleum infrastructure market.
Newly discovered oilfields in Ranger, Texas, in 1917 and Seminole, Oklahoma, in the 1920s
were straining the nation’s petroleum storage capacity.
In the Permian Basin, a West Texas company desperate to store soaring oil production
constructed an experimental tank designed to hold up to five million barrels of oil. An vast,
experimental structure in Monahans used concrete-coated earthen walls 30 feet tall and covered
with a cedar roof to slow evaporation.
But the Monahans oil tank’s seams leaked and the storage attempt was abandoned. The
concrete oval today is home to the Million Barrel Museum.
A spherically bottomed water tower shown in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company 1912 sales book.
By 1923, CB&I’s storage innovations like its “floating roof” oil tank had greatly increased safety
and profitability as well as setting industry standards. That year the company built its first
Hortonsphere in Port Arthur, Texas.
Soon, pressure vessels of all sizes were being used for storage of compressed gases such as
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or propane and butane. Hortonspheres also hold liquefied natural
gas (LNG) produced by cooling natural gas at atmospheric pressure to minus 260 degrees
Fahrenheit, at which point it liquefies.
In one of engineering’s finest examples of form following function, a sphere is the theoretical
ideal shape for a vessel that resists internal pressure.
In the first Port Arthur installation and up until about 1941, the component steel plates were
riveted; thereafter, welding allowed for increased pressures and vessel sizes. As metallurgy and
welding advances brought tremendous gains in Hortonspheres’ holding capacities, they also
have proven to be an essential part of the modern petroleum refining business.
CB&I constructed fractionating towers for many petroleum refineries, beginning with Standard Oil
of Louisiana at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1930. The company also built a giant, all-welded
80,000 barrel oil storage tank in New Jersey.
Since 1923, Chicago Bridge & Iron has fabricated more than 3,500 Hortonspheres for worldwide
markets in capacities reaching more than three million gallons. The company today says it
continues to be the leading spherical storage container builder worldwide.
Poughkeepsie Hortonsphere
Fascinated by geodesic domes and similar structures, Jeff Buster discovered a vintage
Hortonsphere in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 2012 he contacted the New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
A Hortonsphere viewed in 2012 from the “Walkway over the Hudson” in Poughkeepsie, New York. Photo
courtesy Jeff Buster.
Buster wanted the agency to save Horton’s sphere at at the corner of Dutchess and North Water
streets. He asked that an effort be made “to preserve this beautiful and unique ‘form following
function’ structure, which is in immediate risk of being demolished.”
Buster posted a photo of the Poughkeepsie Hortonsphere on a website devoted to geodesic
domes. “The jig saw pattern of steel plates assembled into this sphere is unique,” he wrote.
“The lay-out pattern is repeated four times around the vertical axis of the tank,” Buster added.
“With the rivets detailing the seams, the sphere is extremely cool and organic feeling.”
Although the steel tank, owned by Central Hudson Gas and Electric Company, was demolished
in late 2013, Buster’s photo helps preserve its oil patch legacy.
Spheres at Sea
Sphere technology became seaborn as well. On February 20, 1959, after a three-week voyage,
the Methane Pioneer — the world’s first LNG tanker – arrived at the world’s first LNG terminal at
Canvey Island, England, from Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Modern LNG tankers are massive and doubled hulled.
The Methane Pioneer, a converted World War II liberty freighter, contained five, 7,000-barrel
aluminum tanks supported by balsa wood and insulated with plywood and urethane. The
successful voyage demonstrated that large quantities of liquefied natural gas could be
transported safely across the ocean.
Most modern LNG carriers have between four and six tanks on the vessel. New classes have a
cargo capacity of between 7.4 million cubic feet and 9.4 million cubic feet. They are equipped
with their own re-liquefaction plant. In 2015 — about 100 years after Horace Ebenezer Horton
died — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced it was building next-generation LNG carriers to
transport the shale gas produced in North America.
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Recommended Reading: The Extraction State, A History of Natural Gas in America (2021).
Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon
Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society preserves U.S. petroleum history. Become an
AOGHS supporting member and help maintain this energy education website and expand
historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright © 2020 Bruce
A. Wells. All rights reserved.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Horace Horton’s Spheres.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L
Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL:
https://aoghs.org/transportation/hortonspheres/. Last Updated: September 19, 2021. Original
Published Date: December 14, 2016.
Hortonsphere® Pressure Vessels
We built the world’s first Hortonsphere® pressure
vessel in 1923, and our experience in providing this storage solution is unmatched even
today. We’ve built more than 3,500 spheres worldwide.
Lower cost, higher reliability. Hortonsphere vessels economically and reliably store large
volumes of liquids and gases under a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions.
Their spherical shape offers uniform stress resistance, allowing the vessels to economically
contain internal pressures. They require less land area yet provide more capacity than other
pressure storage vessels, resulting in lower associated costs for piping, foundations,
accessories and painting.
Hortonsphere vessels are used by many industries, including oil, gas, petrochemical,
chemical and aerospace. They are ideal for ambient temperature liquid; low-temperature
liquid; cryogenic liquid and gas storage. They also can be used as processing, testing,
containment, surge and vacuum vessels or hyperbaric chambers or environmental
chambers.
Superior business approach. We deliver projects on a lump-sum, turnkey basis, providing
single-point responsibility for all phases of the project. This approach reduces the effort
and expense that the customer must invest for project oversight. As a true engineering,
procurement/fabrication and construction (EPC) contractor, we have a multinational team of
experienced engineers, technicians, supervisors and craftsmen to execute the project from
start to finish. Our technical base in design, analysis, testing, metallurgy, welding, material
fabrication, project management and construction allows us to provide superior results.
Flexibility in storage. We erect Hortonsphere vessels in the field to
provide the most economical solution for the customer. We utilize all-welded metal plate
construction, quality materials, and overload testing for unparalleled safety and
dependability. Once in service, our spheres are essentially oxygen free, which reduces
corrosion and the danger of ignition.
Typical Hortonsphere vessel applications include:
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Ambient Temperature Liquid Storage—Spheres designed for liquid storage can contain a
variety of products such as gasoline, anhydrous ammonia, naphtha, LPG, NGL, butadiene
and water. Typical capacities range from 1,000–75,000 barrels.
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Low Temperature Liquid Storage—Low-temperature liquid Hortonspheres offer an
economical, partial-refrigeration solution for storing products such as LPG. These
spheres feature single walls and external insulation.
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Cryogenic Temperature Liquid Storage—Spheres designed for cryogenic storage can be
used to store products such as ethylene, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, argon and LNG.
These spheres feature double walls with an evacuated, perlite-filled annular space.
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Gas Storage—Hortonsphere vesssels can store large quantities of compressed gases,
such as hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, helium and argon. They also are used to store
digester gas at sewage treatment plants or to store biogas at landfills.
PESO Certification Mandatory Products
The following product groups & facilities are affected by the PESO certification:
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Gas cylinders/valves/regulators
Pressure vessels and their fittings
Gas cylinder filling plants
Factories for the manufacture of pressure vessels and their fittings, gas
cylinder valves, LPG regulators and petroleum tankers and their fittings
CNG filling stations
Storage facilities for filled gas cylinders.
Storage facilities for compressed gases in pressure vessels
Car LPG dispensers
LPG filling stations
Flameproof, intrinsically safe and special electrical equipment suitable for use
in hazardous areas with flammable gases/vapours.
Flameproof equipment
Mechanical components installed in hazardous areas
Petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, calcium carbide factories and
acetylene gas generating plants.
Petroleum tanks in seagoing vessels for the issuance of gas free certificates
for the authorisation of hot work, entry into such tanks and entry into such
vessels in docks
Long-distance petroleum pipelines
Petroleum pipelines.
Petroleum tankers
Petroleum filling stations
Calcium carbide storage rooms
Explosives
Factories for the production of explosives
Storage rooms for explosives
Explosives trucks, portable explosives magazines, mixing and delivery
vehicles for on-site manufacture of explosives, vehicles for transporting
compressed gases in pressure vessels and petroleum tankers
Factories for the manufacture of fireworks
Warehouses and shops for fireworks
On-site manufacture of explosives in Bulk Mixing and Delivery [BMD]
vehicles.