Forge Tech Avoiding Tank Downtime

Avoiding Tank
Downtime
How Forge BondingTM
Increases Safety and
Productivity and Drives
Down Costs by Up to 98%
Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Marketing Backwards
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Copyright © 2021, Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller
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Here’s What’s Inside…
Introduction ............................................................ 1
Chapter One
The Cost of Tank Maintenance Today .............. 3
Chapter Two
The Real Cost of Hot Work ............................... 21
Chapter Three
Why the History of Forge
Bonding is Important ........................................ 31
Chapter Four
How Forge Bonding Works .............................. 36
Chapter Five
Making Forge Bonding Portable
and Safe ................................................................. 48
Chapter Six
Transforming How You
Repair Tanks ....................................................... 51
Chapter Seven
Leveraging Forge Bonding
for Structural Repairs ....................................... 60
Chapter Eight
Here’s How We Can Help You .......................... 71
Epilogue ................................................................ 76
Acknowledgments
The assistance of the following individuals is
gratefully acknowledged.
Ken Vejr
Don Buchan
Bart Troyer
Don Cooper
Introduction
In a perfect world, Above Ground Storage
Tanks (ASTs) would only be taken out of
service once every twenty years or so. But if
you are the person responsible for the reliability
and safety of your company’s AST assets, you
already know, all too well, that your world isn’t
perfect.
Experienced operators know that storage tanks

routinely face problems caused by corrosion or
other issues leading to damage and leaks, often
requiring repairs that result in an unscheduled
shutdown of operations and added cost.
Even so, tight margins often push operators to

put off repairs or solve these issues with
temporary solutions or stopgap measures to
focus their budget towards operating their
facility. The risk of deferring more effective
maintenance to a later scheduled downtime can
lead to dangerous consequences, or even worse,
catastrophic failures, environmental damages,
and regulatory fines.
Avoiding Tank Downtime 1
Fortunately, we (Forge Tech, Inc.) have
developed state-of-the-art technologies to allow
for reliable engineered mechanical repairs to be
completed while the tank stays in service with
minimal lost time. Many other mechanical
upgrades or enhancements normally put off and
accomplished by hot work during turnarounds
can be safely completed ahead of schedule
while the tank remains in service.
The purpose of this book is to introduce our

advanced Forge Bonding technology and
demonstrate how it can successfully improve
and extend the reliability and lifetime of your
AST assets and lead to better cost management
of your operations.
To Your Success,
Mathew & Michael
2 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Chapter One
The Cost of Tank Maintenance Today
The AST Industry Dilemma
Aboveground Storage Tanks, or ASTs as they

are called, are large stationary assets designed
to temporarily hold liquid or gas substances for
a period of time before being used by or
transported to processing facilities. ASTs are
ubiquitous across many different industries,
including the petroleum, chemical,
transportation, and military sectors - to name a
few. ASTs can range in size upwards to
hundreds of feet in diameter and have a design
life of many decades. Throughout their
lifecycle, ASTs routinely require inspection and
both planned and breakdown maintenance due
to corrosion, damage, and other issues which
can severely affect the reliability and integrity
of tank walls, roofs, railings, stairs, and other
components.
ASTs have always been an essential component

within many process industries, but due to
today’s increased storage and throughput
demands, AST owners/operators have suddenly

found themselves reassessing the importance of
storage capacity and downtime. Even so, their
dilemma is that economic concerns, competing
corporate budget priorities, and capital
expenditure cuts have kept ASTs relatively low
on their priority list. This often leads to delayed
maintenance or neglect until it directly impacts
operational reliability, or worse, causes
catastrophic failure.
So How Do You Solve This Dilemma?

In your role as an AST asset manager or
maintenance professional, you know the
problems you face when you try to maximize
tank uptime, maintain or improve reliability,
and responsibly manage your budget. You also
realize the importance of having greater
flexibility in scheduling when and how
mechanical maintenance and repair work is
conducted. As a result of this industry-wide
need, innovative and cost-effective tools and
solutions are being introduced into the
marketplace to transform how you manage this
dilemma.

One Innovative Solution
One of the innovations becoming widely
adopted by the industry is Forge BondingTM,
introduced by our company, Forge Tech Inc. of
Houston, Texas.
In the best-case scenario, tanks in the United

States are only taken out of service once every
20 years. It’s an industry maintenance standard
followed by tank owners and operators.
Sometimes, under special circumstances, these
outages can be stretched to 30 years. During
the outage, they completely take the tank out of
service, clean it, degas it, and then they can
perform about any repairs or upgrades on it they
would like. Unfortunately, the best-case
scenario doesn’t always play out. Other issues
come up.
Along the way, over the 20 years between

scheduled outages or turnarounds, there are
painting and general inspections which have to
take place to make sure the tank is operating
properly, that it’s safe, and it doesn’t have any
leaks that might be creating environmental
emissions. There is some low-level maintenance

along the way, but nothing as costly as a 20-
year turnaround.
However, from time to time, tanks will have

other problems. Many storage tanks are near the
coast, where there is salt in the air. Chlorides
form and settle on these tanks – resulting in
corrosion. Sometimes they form leaks in the
tank roofs or the tank shells. If there are
guardrails or stairs, or ladders, they can become
corroded and unsafe for human access.
Sometimes, weld seams that were intended to
last the life of the tank fail from cracking or
crevice corrosion, creating leaks.
Stopgaps
Many companies with these issues use
temporary stopgap measures, especially for the
leaks which don’t hold up. They’re not
engineered. It’s difficult to prepare the surfaces
properly for repairs in a dirty environment.
They use things like polymers, or we’ve seen
some pretty crazy things like wooden plugs
pounded into holes that have corroded in these
tanks. It’s quite surprising what they’ll try.
Some will use self-tapping screws with rubber

gaskets or washers to stop the leaks or plain old
epoxy glue.
It’s frequently prohibited, especially if the tank

has a flammable product in it, but for welding,
there are hot work permits that they have to
acquire to work on these tanks, and sometimes
they aren’t able to get those.
Procedure Cost, and Safety

Painting is a routine task that has to take place
on tanks. Frequently, there’s a lot more effort
and attention paid to the logo on the side of the
tank than there is to the external floating roof
(EFR) of the tank. It’s out of sight and out of
mind, so it’s frequently neglected. However,
during the 20 to up to 30 years scheduled
outages, the procedure is to drain the tank. They
have to find a place to put the product that is in
the tank. Then they clean out the tank, which is
a huge effort. Keep in mind, the diameter of
some of these tanks can span a distance longer
than a football field.

Cost
The size of these tanks and the amount of
product they contain is enormous, but after they
have cleaned it, they have to degas it and make
sure there are no flammable vapors in the tank.
During cleaning, they have the hazardous waste
disposal, the sludge that frequently forms and
settles to the bottom of the tank. Especially in
crude oil tanks, you have a heavy product with
undesirable solids that settle. Imagine a circular
area the diameter of a football field, filled three
feet deep in sludge that must be disposed of.
If there are defects in these tanks that must be

taken care of, permits are required to weld.
Then, to put it back into service, they frequently
hydro-test the tanks to ensure no leaks. If
there’s a leak with water, it’s not a big deal for
the environment or difficult to repair. Therefore,
they like to test it with water first, then take the
water out. They also have to find a way to clean
that water or dispose of it properly because
sometimes it will have contaminants in it from
the residue of the product stored previously.
There is the Hydro testing cost, and then they’ll

drain the water out and put the product in it.

The cost can easily extend into many millions
of dollars. It’s not uncommon to have a tank out
of service for six to nine months or longer. This
means lost production, and that’s extremely
expensive. That is sometimes the biggest part of
the cost of taking a tank out of service.
Safety
When it comes to safety, to take a mid-size or
larger tank out of service, you can easily have
more than 100 people working for that six-to-
nine-month period. The more people working
on a project, the more likely there will be an
injury. You can argue that if you reduce the
number of person-hours in the field, you will
reduce your injury rate, which benefits
everybody.
Also, once you start welding on something,

that’s considered hot work. When you’re
bringing these tanks back up to industry
standards, you frequently are performing
welding on these tanks. Welding has some
dangerous aspects to it. Although it is an
industry-accepted method, there are associated
safety risks, especially for the welder

performing the work. Welding emits vapors that
the welder can inhale. Burns can result from
touching hot metal or through high-intensity
ultraviolet light. In addition to the hot work
aspect of welding, there are many personal
safety hazards associated with arc welding.
Leaks
Also, if a tank happens to spring a leak during
the 20-year period, the company that owns the
tank or the tank operator now has to deal with
an EPA mandate. When they report it, a 45-day
clock starts counting down. They have 45 days
to repair the leak and to stop the environmental
emission. They must act quickly and stop the
leak.
There are costs associated with having to make

these repairs on the spot without much
planning. Any time you perform work that
hasn’t been planned, it always costs more and
takes longer than if you plan for it in the future
and line everything up for it. There are many
advantages to having a method that will make
near-term repairs, especially these repairs
caught in that 45-day window, and make those

repairs quickly and without having to take the
tank out of service.
Saving Time = Saving Money

The big contrast between arc welding and Forge
Bonding is reducing that downtime and the
costs associated with having that tank out of
service. Instead of that six-to-nine-month
outage for a turnaround, we can turn that into a
day or two using Forge Bonding to make the
repair or to perform an installation.
The Forge Bonding process is not just for

repairs. It’s also for upgrading tanks and
improving safety with guardrails or fall
protection.
Let’s talk a little about the procedure. For those

who have not been introduced to our process,
the basic procedure for Forge Bonding is to
attach a threaded steel stud to the tank with a
high-strength metallurgical bond. See Photo 1.
below.

Photo 1 - Threaded Forge BondedTM Stud
That’s the heart of our Forge Bonding

technology. It uses a process that we’ll talk
about a little later to join these two metals
together. We can do it with minimal thermal
energy, and it’s a very safe process.
Once you put these threaded steel studs on a

tank’s surface, you now have an anchor means
for attaching guardrails or fall protection. Fire
suppression (fire extinguishing piping systems)
is another one, but these anchor means can also
be used to apply localized clamping force to
repair plates that have gaskets and sealing
materials between the plate and the tank. See
Photo 2 below.
Photo 2 – External floating roof leak repair plate.

Cost Savings Across the Board
We’ve done this repeatedly for customers who
are looking at taking their tank out of service.
We come in and, anywhere from one day to one
week, we’ll have them back up and running
without ever having to take the tank out of
service.
Now, we do want to point out that the tank is

“idled.” In other words, no product is flowing in
or out of it while we’re on the tank roof. That’s
a standard safety precaution for the workers on
the roof, but as far as taking it out of service
where you have to dispose of the product in it
and clean it, degas it, all those factors, all those
process steps are eliminated.
The cost is dramatically lower. Instead of

paying 100 people with various job skills to
work, we can come in and make these repairs
with a two-person crew. You can imagine the
cost difference between hiring two certified
technicians with a Forge Bonding machine for a
day or two versus having 150 people working
for nine months. The labor costs alone are
tremendously reduced, not to mention the
reduction in costs from avoiding accidents.

There’s certainly the elimination of hot work,
which adds to the safety. Say a leak that’s
formed is missed. Now you’re talking about the
cost of EPA fines, which can add up. It can be a
very substantial cost. Plus, EPA violations and
chemical exposures to the local communities
are not good for the company’s reputation, so
efforts are frequently made to repair the tank
quickly. Below is a case study that
demonstrates the cost reductions delivered for a
past customer.

We see many temporary, stopgap measures like
that shown in the middle photo above. In that
situation, the polymers didn’t stop the leak, so
the plan was to take the tank out of service if we
weren’t able to help them.
We won’t work in an area with half an inch of

oil because the technicians, tools, and
equipment are exposed, and it’s unhealthy for
the technicians and a mess for the equipment.
We also use temporary stopgaps, but they’re
only designed to last while we’re up on the roof,
a day to a week, and then we can use our Forge
Bonding to make a long-term, very robust, and
reliable repair.
Industry Accepted
We’ve been in business for over ten years.
There is an increasing industry awareness of our
process and its benefits. We wrote this book to
help educate those unaware of our process and
what we do.
We have a story example for you that shows the

value we bring. This was interesting because the
tank was out of service when we showed up on

the job site. Most tanks are in-service when we
show up. That’s our big claim to fame, but this
one had a problem.
They had already taken the tank out of service.

They drained it, they cleaned it, and they
attempted to degas it. They could not get all of
the fumes out of the tank. There were traces of
benzene being picked up on the monitors, so
they were unable to weld. They could not get a
hot work permit. They’d even sandblasted it and
primed it, and when they were sandblasting,
they found holes in the roof and thinned areas
that were not going to last another 20 years.
They knew about us. This was in the early days

of educating this customer. They’d heard about
us, and they said, “Hey, Forge Tech, can you
help us?”
We went out and looked at it. Over three weeks,

we put down 41 of our repair plates on this tank
(see Photo 3 below). I believe it was 444 of the
threaded studs that we put down on this job. We
had them back up and running, and we had a
happy customer, which is very common.

Photo 3 – External floating roof with 41 repair plates
installed using Forge Bonding
The Only Solution

In this particular situation, Forge Tech ended a
problem that they could not solve without our
technology. Arc welding, the traditional means
of solving this problem, was not an option
anymore. The only other way to solve this
problem with a repair that would last 20 years is
to use Forge Bonding.
Forge Bonding should be considered a tool for

the tank owner or tank operators, an extra tool
in their belt when it comes time for tank
maintenance, repairs, upgrades, or
enhancements. Forge Bonding offers a means of
performing all of these with improved safety,
lower costs, and a long-term, robust solution.

Chapter Two
The Real Cost of Hot Work
Typically, hot work processes can only be
performed on Above Ground Storage tanks
when they are shut down. These hot work
processes are not often utilized between the 20-
year API 653 turnaround intervals unless the
tank is completely taken out of service. An
unscheduled outage is extremely costly,
requiring draining, cleaning, and degassing.
There are rare instances where these hot work
processes are reluctantly performed. For
instance: arc welding on the shell of a tank
below the liquid level. May I please
reemphasize the word “reluctantly?”
Generally, temporary leak stops or stopgaps are

utilized to maintain the tanks in-service
throughout these extended API 653 intervals,
requiring constant maintenance and re-
servicing.
We bring state-of-the-art, intrinsically safe

Forge Bonding technology to the marketplace,
providing reliable, engineered alternatives
versus the current temporary stopgap solutions.

In 2011, we entered the industrial marketplace,
providing engineered mechanical leak sealing
solutions on above ground storage tanks. Over
time, our core business has expanded into
providing in-service retrofit solutions such as
guardrails/handrails, instrumentation, manways,
stair treads, ladders, and fire suppression
systems. Our applications continue to expand
on a regular basis.
This intrinsically safe, mechanical bonding

process was specifically designed to provide in-
service, efficient, cost-saving solutions to the
industrial marketplace.
A Wide Range of Costs

Most of the industry is aware of the excessive
costs related to removing above ground storage
tanks from service for repair. While most are
aware, few know the actual overall costs. These
costs can range from 100s of thousands of
dollars on smaller tanks to millions of dollars
on larger ones. The product within the tank also
affects the overall cost of cleaning.

For instance, if the product is a light
hydrocarbon, it cleans up easier, and the costs
associated become far less. If the product
contains materials such as sand, as is common
with crude oil (especially crude oil from the
Middle East), these materials settle to the
bottom of the tank and create sludge. This
sludge or “heavies” are usually manually
removed prior to hot work being performed.
Removing these heavies can drive costs up
significantly.
In summary, removing a tank from service for

an unscheduled outage can be very costly and
disruptive to our client’s overall process. Our
Forge Bonding process was specifically
designed to address these costly scenarios by
providing in-service, long-term, reliable repair
and retrofit solutions.
Reducing Costs of Tank Repairs and

Retrofits
Routinely, we address scenarios that could cost
our clients millions of dollars if they remove
tanks from service for repair. Our value
increases the longer the anticipated API 653

outage since the lost use of the tank is often the
largest part of the cost. Our in-service repairs
are engineered to last until the next scheduled
outage, while our retrofits are considered
permanent.
One repair scenario involved a stair tread about

halfway up the shell of a tank. The stair tread
was supported by an angle iron that was welded
directly to the shell of the tank. A through-shell
defect occurred due to crevice corrosion at the
angle iron-to-tank shell weld seam. When the
floating tank roof level was positioned above
the defect, it would begin to leak. The roof level
was kept below the defect to mitigate the leak.
This was very disruptive to the process, which
required full-tank capacity.
This client asked us to evaluate and determine if

a solution could be provided. Not only did we
provide a leak repair solution, but we also
created a new anchor point for a new stair tread.
See Photo 4 below for before and after photos.
The retrofit, which was considered a high-
profile repair, was designed for the stair tread to
support the 1,000-pound vertical load required
by OSHA. As our technicians were leaving the

job site, this customer admitted that a purchase
order was previously generated for half a
million dollars just to clean this tank so the
repair could be made using traditional arc
welding. The cost savings were evident and
communicated directly to Forge Tech.
Photo 4 - Before and after photos of stair tread leak

repair

Repairing Tank Defects
In another case repair, we had a client who had
an external floating roof with significant
corrosion and multiple active leaks. With
approximately three months of effort, four
separate vendor attempts, and over a million
dollars invested, the leaks were still not
contained.
We were brought in to educate the customer

with a technical presentation about our
technology. The customer accepted the Forge
Bonding process. Within two weeks, we had the
leaks repaired and their tank up and running
again. See Photo 5 below.
The tank remained in-service for an additional

18 months - the next scheduled API 653 outage.
The cost savings to the customer was in the
millions of dollars. This was one of our client’s
main crude tanks, approximately 300 feet in
diameter. They relied on this tank specifically
for their entire operation. With the active leak
conditions, the tank could not accept crude oil.
A tanker located in the Gulf of Mexico was
waiting for this tank to be repaired to complete
its delivery. This tanker sat out in the Gulf for

approximately three months, waiting to off-load
its crude oil. The cost of a tanker is
approximately $20,000 to $30,000 per day,
which the customer had to pay.
Photo 5 - One large and two small leak repair plates

Guardrail Installations
In-service, API compliant guardrail installations
have become one of our most significant
applications, providing a solution that protects
elevated surfaces from falls. See Photo 6 below.
One of the most important issues relating to
these types of installations is that you can plan
to install these guardrails during a scheduled
outage – but to have the time and the resources
to accomplish this is another story. You plan,
but it’s difficult to accomplish these tasks due
to outage priorities and the pressure to get back
on-line as soon as possible. While “downtime”
is extremely costly, our primary mission is to
provide maximum “uptime.” Due to priorities,
these guardrail projects typically get kicked to
the side and are never completed. Now there is
an OSHA-compliant, engineered guardrail
system that can be installed around the clock,
virtually throughout the year. No longer do you
have to operate within a narrow window of
opportunity to accomplish certain projects.

Photo 6 – Forge Bonded guardrail (silver) installed
on a chemical storage tank and tied into the existing
guardrails (yellow)
Safety Standards
Our Forge Bonding process is more of a forging
process than a welding process. The process
does not create sparks or flames or utilize
electricity. The entire process is operated
pneumatically. In other words, “Forge Tech
forges with air.” Forge Bonding is a safe metal
joining process that can be performed without a
hot work permit. Though heat is generated at
the bonding interface, it is very short-lived and
creates only a one-quarter-inch diameter hot
surface area. The safety margins have been
determined and are well below the ignition
temperatures of the chemicals and hydrocarbons
in the tanks we bond to. The process is
inherently safe due to its inability to reach these
ignition thresholds.

Chapter Three
Why the History of Forge Bonding
is Important
Forge Tech, Inc. did not invent friction welding.
It was developed back in the 1950s and has
proven to be the highest quality metal joining
process. Friction welding is typically performed
as a stationary process within machine shops. In
2004, I, Mike Miller, recognized that this
stationary process could be miniaturized and
made portable to solve many challenges within
the industrial marketplace.
Due, in part, to the reduced thermal energy

required to make a bond and the fact that there
is no molten metal as is the case with traditional
fusion welding processes, this friction welding
process has been appropriately termed “Forge
Bonding.”
The process applies an axial load to the work-

piece. Then a rotational timed sequence initiates
and automatically ceases after just a few
seconds. The final product is a permanently
bonded stud that far exceeds the ASME Section
IX industry standards. This stud can now be

integrated with additional studs to solve various
mechanical repair and retrofit challenges within
hazardous environments. These studs can be
installed utilizing low thermal energy that has
proven to be safe in hazardous environments
containing explosive products.
How Forge Tech Began

I am the inventor of the Forge Bonding process,
beginning my efforts in 2004. I tested my
theories of reliability, safety, and adaptability of
the Forge Bonding process. Early on, I
convinced my father that this process was worth
the investment. During my initial efforts, my
father was my only investor.
Forge Tech started out in my garage,

developing drawings, multiple prototypes, and
pursuing patent protection. Over the next six
years, a significant portion of my dad’s personal
assets went into this radical business plan of
safely welding within hazardous environments.
My dad’s initial investment became my driving
passion - failure was not an option. Future
funding was dependent on the issuance of the
patent. Without future investment, we would

not have a business. The final investment had
dwindled down to just a few months of staying
power. Our future was now in the balance and
extremely uncertain.
In 2010, our first patent was issued. Within the

following three months, we were able to raise
the funds required to move the technology from
my garage and into the marketplace. Many
individuals are credited and responsible for
where we are today, which is too many to
mention.
Overcoming Challenges
The challenges that we overcame were
significant and something to behold. When we
entered the marketplace in late 2010, the
industry was risk-averse or intolerant. After the
relatively recent British Petroleum (BP)
incident, the industry was hesitant to risk using
unfamiliar technology. We had an exceedingly
difficult challenge to convince the industry that
our technology was safe and reliable.
Over the years, as I was developing the Forge

Bonding process in my garage, I intentionally

tried to create ignition by maximizing the
process parameters. Time and again, tests were
run without reaching ignition. From these tests,
I believed that the process was inherently safe.
In other words, my passion grew from the idea
that the Forge Bonding process, was in my
mind, incapable of creating ignition.
My neighbors and friends would come by to

visit. They would pull up their chairs and watch
me try to ignite things like gasoline in my front
yard. I could never create ignition, no matter
how much axial force I applied, no matter how
long I ran the process. No ignition.
In my mind, I knew that this process was safe,

but what I did not know was exactly how safe
the process actually was. I couldn’t quantify it.
Subsequently, we employed a contractor who

worked with NASA as a welding
inspector/engineer. This individual led an 18-
month in-house testing effort to prove the safety
of the Forge Bonding process. Also, it was
imperative that I could demonstrate the safety
margin of the process.

This testing included identifying the thermal
energy output of the Forge Bonding process
versus the actual ignition temperature of
commonly stored hydrocarbon liquids.
Approximately a dozen commonly stored
flammable products were put through
significant testing. Many hundreds of tests were
performed, bonding on thin metal plates with
hydrocarbon and air mixtures on the backsides.
The hydrocarbons and air were mixed in a ratio
that provided the most explosive combination.
In summary, the results of this extensive testing

proved that the Forge Bonding process delivers
at least a 2x factor of safety in the presence of
common hydrocarbons found in the
petrochemical industry.

Chapter Four
How Forge Bonding Works
Let’s talk a little bit about Forge Bonding, the
process, and how it works. That’s what
everybody wants to know when they first hear
about our process. They ask, “What is this?
How do you make these repairs? How do you
join metals together without sparks or flames?”
It all stems back to 60 years when a process

called friction welding was invented. This was
back in the 1950s.
That technology is well-defined. It’s been well

accepted by the industry. The American Society
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has accepted
it and has standards for it. It is used to join
metals throughout the automotive, aerospace,
and many other industries today.
Our Unique Process

Friction welding is not a new process. However,
it is the core process of our Forge Bonding
technology. It’s the bonding technique that
helps us to join the metals together. What we
did is improve the friction welding process and

modified it to meet our customers' needs.
We’ve added additional reinforcement; you can
call it a “wrapper” around friction welding to
allow it to be used in hazardous environments
and still provide the vast benefits of a welded
stud.
Typically, friction welding is performed in the

industry using large, floor-standing machines.
They’re not portable at all. You have to bring
the work to the machine to perform the work on
it. We wanted to bring this friction welding to
the customer and bring it out to the job site, so
we made it portable. We’re working on our
fifth-generation product right now, and
currently, you can carry the machine in a few
suitcases. A technician can carry it in their
hands or hoist the equipment up onto the tank
roof with ropes.
They can check the machine onto airplanes and

fly great distances with it. We made it portable,
and that’s one of the key elements of Forge
Bonding. Also, when you go into an explosive
environment, nobody wants to use electricity.
Electricity is dangerous. Arc welding uses it,
but they need hot work permits. To make it safe
in a flammable environment, we made the

process pneumatic. It simply runs off of
compressed air. There’s no electricity. There are
no electronics that can generate sparks. We
weld with air.
This pneumatic process is safe, in part, because

of that. It simply runs off a compressed air
source, an air compressor that we tow behind
our truck. It sits down on the ground a distance
from the tank. We then run an air hose up onto
the tank roof, for instance, or near the tank shell
if that’s where we’re going to be working. That
allows us to operate the machinery.
Automation = Less Human Skill

We’ve also automated the process, so it takes
the human skill out of it. Arc welding can be
somewhat of an art. Some welders are very
good, and some are not very good. However,
the skill of the welder is very important with arc
welding. With Forge Bonding, the technician or
weld operator sets up the machine, all the
parameters are checked, looks at all the
parameters that are set up, and then pushes a
button. The machine does the work.

A few seconds later, they have joined the stud
to the tank, and then they move on to the next
one. According to ASME, Forge Bonding is an
automated welding process, and the Forge
Bonding machine is considered an automatic
welding machine.
Industry Standards
Compliance with industry standards is required
when welding on storage tanks built in
compliance with American Petroleum Institute
(API) standards. Every stud we install for a
customer is strictly compliant with ASME
standards which are called for in the API tank
standards. Each combination of metals we join
using Forge Bonding is backed by a certified
weld procedure specification (WPS) and
procedure qualification record (PQR) prepared
in accordance with Section IX of the ASME
code. Our welding operators are also qualified
and then certified to rigorous ASME standards.
So, you can think of Forge Bonding as an entire
package that includes not only portable and safe
friction stud welding but also a certified
welding process and certified welding operators
to perform the work in compliance with ASME
and API standards.
Also included in the package are safety
checkpoints to ensure the process is performed
safely and with the utmost quality. Because our
technicians are frequently entering hazardous
environments, we are always looking for
redundant safety measures to put in place and
work with the customer to make this happen.
In addition to these attributes of Forge Bonding,

we’ve also minimized the thermal energy it
takes to join those metals. We’ve done
everything we can to ensure that a minimal
amount of heat or thermal energy is used to join
those metals together while still achieving the
highest strength bond possible. We’ve certified
the process to industry standards. We’ve trained
and certified our technicians.
Before we use any of these threaded studs for a

retrofit or repair, we engineer the solution. We
send an engineer the requirements, and they use
hand calculations and software tools to evaluate
and analyze the solution we’re proposing. Then
we present an engineered package to the
customer.
The total Forge Bonding package that we bring

to the customer is safe. It’s high quality. It’s
certified to strict industry standards. The bottom
line is that a simple threaded steel stud, about
the size of your little finger, can have pressure
applied to it. It’s spun for a few seconds. At the
tip of that stud, where it meets the tank, a small
amount of thermal energy is generated,
softening the metals. The rotation stops, and
those two metals are now fused. It’s beautiful,
one of the purest forms of welding known to
humankind.
We have added all of these advantages,

benefits, and improvements to friction welding.
This enhanced version of friction welding with
all the safety, convenience, and quality that we
routinely bring to our customers is what we are
trademarking and calling Forge Bonding.

What Projects Work Best for Forge
Bonding?
Projects that involve in-service tanks, or more
specifically tank work where the customer
cannot get a hot work permit, are the two best
applications of Forge Bonding. Active roof and
shell leaks are some of the biggest problems we
solve for customers in in-service tanks. They
are installing stairs, ladders, guardrails, fire
suppression systems, nozzles, manways,
instrumentation. There’s a whole variety of
things that we can do with these threaded steel
studs once they’re attached to a tank.
Suppose the tank has an internal lining or

coating that protects the steel on the inside from
an aggressive product or process. Some
products will corrode steel very quickly, so they
put a liner on the inside of the tank. Arc
welding, if used on that tank, can damage that
internal liner, leading to future problems.
Our process doesn’t generate enough heat to

damage that internal liner. When the tank has an
external coating or paint, we don’t generate
enough heat to burn the paint on the outside of
the tank. There’s less work for our customers

after we’re done; they don’t have to repaint the
outside of the tank.
Again, anytime you can’t get a hot work permit,

or if you want to perform the work while the
tank is in service, those are great applications or
times to think about using Forge Bonding.
A Chemical Company Story

Near the Texas Gulf Coast, a chemical company
was trying to install guardrails on all of their
tanks. They had over 100 tanks, and their
company initiative was to install guardrails on
all of those tanks to improve safety in this plant.
They made several attempts to install these
guardrails during their turnarounds. When the
20-year turnaround cycle comes around, they
have to shut down the tank. They said, “We’ll
weld these guardrails on during turnarounds.”
Eventually, over 20 years, they thought they
could get all these guardrails mounted.
It turned out they made three attempts to do

that, but every time a process line is shut down,
or a tank is shut down, there’s always the strong
drive to bring that process line back up. Every
hour, every day, every week that this process

line is shut down, there’s money being lost, so
there’s always an urgency to get the process line
back up and running.
Just as they would start welding the guardrails

back on, they said, “Nope, we have to bring it
back up. You need to get off the tank. We can’t
weld anymore.”
After three attempts, they realized they were

never going to get these guardrails up when
they wanted to, so they called us. We have been
installing guardrails on their tanks for over a
year and a half. I believe we’ve now crossed the
halfway point on these 100 tanks. We’ve
installed guardrails on over 60 tanks now (see
Photo 7). Again, while the tanks are in service,
the products in many of these tanks are
flammable. We’re not damaging the liners on
these tanks, so that’s a great application of a
Forge Bonding process.

Photo 7 – Guardrails installed using Forge Bonding
(silver) and tied into the existing guardrails (yellow)
Typically, with arc welding, it’s very common

to create more work to be repaired later. For
example, a small breach in the liner will create
problems in the future.
We worked on a job recently, where they

welded a patch in place on the tank. The tank
was out of service and degassed. They missed a
small pinpoint on the inside of the tank when
repairing the coating damaged from the
welding. The product was very aggressive, and
it ate right through the steel shell and created a
pinhole leak. It was an anomaly that was
created because they decided to use arc

welding. We were able to make the repair
without damaging the liner. See Photo 8 below.
Photo 8 – Shell repair plate installed using Forge

Bonding
If You Cannot Get a Hot Work Permit

Again, our process would be effective if you
cannot get a hot work permit or have a very
hazardous environment with flammable
chemicals in the tank or next to the tank.
Frequently, our customers cannot obtain a hot
work permit because the tank next to it has
flammable products, and it is too close to be
safe.
Maybe you cannot get a hot work permit to
weld, or you don’t want the heat-induced
damage caused by arc welding (e.g., for liners
or internal or external coatings). Sometimes,
welding creates other anomalies that I haven’t
gone into in detail, but there’s residual stress
and crevice corrosion that can create problems
in the future. Those are the times to think about
Forge Bonding.

Chapter Five
Making Forge Bonding Portable and
Safe
Arc welding is a safe and reliable process that
many industries rely on extensively. However, a
problem arises when this arc welding process is
utilized within hazardous environments or on
equipment that contains flammable processes.
Enormous efforts are required and expenses
incurred to avoid hot work on in-service above
ground storage tanks.
Not only does the Forge Bonding technology

bring safer alternatives, but it also requires less
personnel to accomplish the repairs or retrofits
versus taking the tank out of service. We
commonly perform these tasks with a two or
three-man crew. Fewer people result in less
risk.
The Forge Bonding equipment is small, user-

friendly, and extremely adaptable to unlimited
substrates and applications. The process
operates exclusively on air; it is fully
pneumatic. The short-duration heat signature is
completely contained or shrouded. The bond is

occurring within a positive inert shroud and is
usually surrounded by an inert vacuum. Within
the shroud, an inert gas is introduced such as
argon or nitrogen, as an additional safety
measure. Additional redundant safety features
include a secondary backup timer and a spring-
activated disable button that shuts down the
operation of the Forge Bonding machine if the
button is released.
Our unique machine utilizes a modular

configuration that can actually be considered a
development system where system components
are substituted to meet the needs of a specific
job. See Photo 9 below. This non-integrated
approach allows for extreme versatility,
efficiency, and adaptability. As friction welding
continues to gain access to the industrial
marketplace, this versatile development system
will provide the necessary efficiencies to reduce
the cost of our future development that will
require larger diameter work-pieces and
increased axial forces.
We bring to the industry more versatility within

our client’s planning, budgeting, and
executions. Our clients can complete projects

they have always wanted to but did not have the
time or resources to accomplish due to their
short windows of opportunity. Now we have
technology available to perform these projects
during normal operating conditions year-round.
Photo 9 – Forge Bonding machine

Chapter Six
Transforming How You Repair Tanks
The applications for Forge Bonding continue to
expand, bound only by human imagination.
There are countless uses for this technology.
See example Photos 10, 11, and 12 below. The
repair and retrofit solutions are customized
depending on the location, size of the defect,
and configuration of the tank. We customize our
solutions in a myriad of ways. Literally, the
versatility is only limited to our engineer’s
creativity when designing solutions.
Many of our solutions are unique in design,

meaning they have never been installed before.
The Forge Bonded stud, or anchor means,
becomes a design catalyst within a repair or
retrofit solution. With these anchor means, we
bring an understanding of the nature of ignition
which allows us to expand our creative
solutions even further. The possibilities are
endless.

Photo 10 - Manway Installation
Photo 11 - Vent Repair

Photo 12 - Tank roof leg repair
American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is
working towards including the friction stud
welding process into the API standard. This will
be another available tool for the industry to
solve their in-service dilemmas or design
challenges. Forge Tech expects to see
significant industry acceptance once this
approval or acceptance occurs.

Forge Bonding – an increasing market
Most industrial facilities, domestically and
internationally, have been providing
manufacturing services for decades. While
many have increased in size and capacity, it’s
common across the industry to repair versus
replace whenever possible. This highlights the
essence of the Forge Bonding technology: to
provide the industry with on-line, in-service
engineered, mechanical repair, and retrofit
solutions.
Most of the largest refining and chemical

companies in the world have begun their
evaluation and use of the Forge Bonding
process, ranging from single one-off repairs to
long-term retrofit projects.
To date, our company has installed more than

twelve thousand Forge Bonded studs,
incorporating hundreds of repairs and retrofits.
We have successfully bonded on above ground
storage tanks that contain hydrocarbon liquids.
Typically, we have bonded above the liquid
level in the vapor space. Our process has been
performed thousands of times, across the
industry, without incident. We have many

success stories to tell about a wide range of
processes stored in above ground storage tanks.
We have gone through an extraordinary

transition from our inception to where we are
today. In the beginning, the hurdles were
significant, focusing directly on the safety and
reliability of the process. Now that many
throughout the industry understand Forge
Bonding and are comfortable with the process,
many want to know how we price our solutions.
It’s an interesting transition to watch as the
acceptance throughout the industry comes to
fruition.
Value Proposition
An obvious way for us to become more
economically attractive is to create a more
efficient system. Initially, we could install
approximately 30 studs per day, per two-person
crew. Today, we can install approximately 300
studs per day with that same two-person crew.
This efficiency has been and will continue to be
at the forefront of our development program.

Another way for us to become more attractive is
through education - teaching the industry the
real value of Forge Bonding. The value of
providing long-term, mechanical repair and
retrofit solutions versus the extremely short-
term, unreliable, temporary stopgaps is
somewhat difficult to grasp initially. Long-term
solutions can only be determined or evaluated
over time.
Interesting to note, improvements are typically

recognized immediately compared to their
current means of short-term stopgap repairs.
Once we repair a leak, our customers can forget
about it and start spending their time on higher
value-added tasks. Value is added when less
time is wasted dealing with leaks, especially if
they become an emergency where huge
amounts of valuable human and financial
resources are consumed.
Additionally, these benefits are even more

recognizable through retrofit projects that can
be implemented under normal operating
conditions year-round. Specific projects such as
fire suppression and guardrail installations
could take years, if not decades, to complete.

Or those projects are not completed at all. An
on-line practical solution solves many of the
strategic challenges towards completing these
significant safety-related projects.
Forge Bonding vs. Arc Welding

Currently, our Forge Bonded repairs are being
considered temporary. The installed Forge
Bonded studs meet ASME Section IX as
permanent installations. These permanent
anchor means, or studs, are currently being
utilized to install temporary repair methods,
such as repair plates on above ground storage
tanks. While in turn, these same permanent
studs are being utilized to install permanent
infrastructures such as fire suppression or
guardrail installations.
Keeping this temporary versus permanent issue

in mind, could there be a reasonable argument
developing that some Forge Bonding repair
applications could provide some metallurgical
repair advantages to a welded-in lap patch?
Arc welding generally creates metallurgical

degradation, primarily due to the excessive heat
generated when melting metal. This is a

characteristic of all fusion welding processes.
Metallurgical degradation is somewhat
synonymous with arc welding. These
metallurgical degradations are considered
acceptable anomalies that could potentially
invite future corrosion or cracking. The Forge
Bonding process is designed to resist corrosion
as compared to arc welding.
In contrast, Forge Bonding creates a

metallurgical enhancement not seen in any other
metal joining process. Due to its relatively low
temperature and solid-state forging
characteristics, Forge Bonding creates a bond
that is superior to any other metal joining
process, delivering maximum strength with
minimal heat input and penetration into the
substrate. Bonds can successfully be
accomplished on substrates as thin as 0.150
inches with hydrocarbon mixtures present on
the backside.
The leak repair process utilizes Forge Bonded

stainless steel studs, two-part polymers
designed to eliminate crevices and prevent
corrosion, corrosion-resistant gaskets, and a
stainless steel compression plate designed to

prevent delamination of the polymers. Also,
stainless steel nuts and washers are used to
apply a clamping force to the plate. The
combination of these repair components is
integrated into a repair system designed to
provide extremely long-term repair solutions to
existing defects on above ground storage tanks.

Chapter Seven
Leveraging Forge Bonding for
Structural Repairs
When we talk about stairs, ladders, and
guardrails, we’re talking about human safety.
Because all of those are for human use or
preventing falls, you’re now delving into
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) requirements and regulations. OSHA
regulates work environments to ensure that
they’re safe for workers. If stairs, ladders, and
guardrails become corroded and unsafe, Forge
Bonding can repair them without taking the
tanks out of service.
Meeting OSHA Requirements

The chemical plant in Houston that we
discussed earlier wanted to upgrade its safety.
We’ve worked on tanks that are 80 years old.
They had no OSHA guardrail requirements
back then. They didn’t exist. Many of our
customers wanted to upgrade their older tanks
to meet the new OSHA requirements. They
didn’t need to meet the requirements because
they were “grandfathered-in,” but they wanted

to provide higher levels of safety for their
employees and the workers on the job site.
When it comes to human safety, you want an

engineered mechanical solution, which we
provide. It’s a solution where you’ve done your
homework, you’ve performed your calculations
to make sure that it will protect the workers
when it’s installed, and the result is long-term
because these tanks may not come out of
service for another 20 years.
Also, our customers will not want to wait for

the next turnaround, as at the chemical plant in
Houston. They want to improve safety now, and
they want to do it in a planned, scheduled
fashion instead of waiting for that next
turnaround and scrambling to install them,
which may or may not be scheduled.
Our customers take safety very seriously. It’s

not only a cost issue if somebody is injured, but
it’s reputation and peace of mind. They want to
sleep well at night. They want to go home and
have a clear conscience knowing they’ve done
everything they could to ensure that their
workers are safe and that nobody’s going to get
injured.

It is a requirement that inspectors inspect these
tanks regularly. They’re very good at doing
their job and finding, say, corroded areas on
stairs, ladders, and guardrails. They’re looking
for these things during their inspections, and
they’re doing a very good job. They mark the
locations, take photographs, take measurements
of metal thicknesses, and report that back to us.
That’s their full-time job, looking for these
anomalies and these problem areas.
Forge Bonding Active Leaks

If you have an active leak where you have the
process within the tank that’s now outside the
tank and flammable, that is a bigger issue.
When it comes to stairs, ladders, and guardrails,
we’ve repaired stairs and guardrails before
where there was a hole in the tank. In one case,
it was leaking a product called naphtha, which
is similar to gasoline.
Once there is an active leak, it’s a bigger issue.

You now have the EPA involved and a much
more dangerous situation. When it comes to,
say, corroded stairs, ladders, and guardrails,
usually it’s more of a human safety issue, which
is equally, if not more important than the

hazardous environmental issue. It’s still the
same process for us. We’ll come in and take
measurements, perform the engineering, and
then we can make the repairs.
Although the environment can be more difficult

to work in on the leak repairs versus the
structural repairs for stairs, ladders, and
guardrails, the process is not much different.
They still have to empty the tanks if somebody

was repairing them with arc welding. They still
have to get all the sludge, gas, and other
elements out because they’d be welding
traditionally for the stairs, ladders, and
guardrails. There are restrictive techniques for
welding on a tank filled with flammable
products such as naphtha, but now with Forge
Bonding, welding is not at all the safest way.
Forge Bonding and Flammable Vapor Space

That part of the process is the same. A lot of
these tanks have a vapor space above the
flammable product. When you have vapors, it’s
far more dangerous than if you have a liquid.
Usually, guardrails are on the top of the tank, so
you have no choice but to work on the vapor

space. They would have to take that tank out of
service, drain it, degas it before they could weld
on it.
Again, that’s a good application for Forge

Bonding because we can provide our service
within that flammable vapor space. So yes,
you’re talking about taking it completely out of
service to perform work on stairs, ladders, and
guardrails with traditional welding.
Gasoline Tank Repair Story

We had a customer in Houston that has a large
number of gasoline tanks. They were installing
fire suppression systems that required piping
and nozzles mounted on their tanks to carry the
fire extinguishing foam solution. There was an
incident in Houston where a different company
had seven or eight tanks catch on fire at a
terminal and created massive equipment, health,
and environmental damage. See Photo 13
below.

Photo 13 – Tank fires in Deer Park, TX March 22,
2019 - Reproduced: Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston
Chronicle Staff photographer
To the Houston Ship Channel, environmental

releases created a huge problem. Because of
that, there’s been an increase in scrutiny on the
control of fires on these tanks. It all started on
one tank, but it spread to six or seven other
tanks. If they’d had fire suppression on these
tanks, they would’ve contained it to a single
tank fire, and the damage would’ve been far
less. Now there are increased requirements for
installing fire suppression on tanks that don’t
have them.
The company we were working with has

gasoline tanks that needed installation of fire
suppression. Of course, they don’t want to take
the tanks out of service because of the lost
production and the cost of taking it out of
service. They decided they were going to weld
on these tanks. There is a welding method on
tanks where you can increase the liquid level
above the point where you’re welding, so there
are no vapors. You’re welding against a liquid.
When you do that, you can damage the liner on

these tanks, number one. The second thing is
you have more workers involved. You have to
have somebody watching the level in these
tanks. You’re paying them to sit there and
watch the levels to make sure that they don’t
fall below the point where they’re welding.
Life or Death
Also, this customer had some problems because
the welders worked out of what we call a man-
lift. It was a windy season, and when they’re
trying to weld, it’s hard to perform quality
welding when the base you’re standing on is
moving. They were failing. The welding
inspector would inspect after they welded, and
the weld inspector would fail their welds.

They’d have to cut the brackets off and start all
over again.
We had a conversation with one of the welders,

and he said, “I’m doing this, but I don’t like it. I
sometimes wonder if I’m going to be going
home to my family.” So, not having to weld on
a tank filled with a flammable product provides
peace of mind and everyone sleeps better at
night.
Faster and Safer

It’s a serious concern. Even though there are
ways to do it safely, the workers are still
nervous about it. We came in with our Forge
Bonding process, and we installed brackets on
these tanks. See Photo 14 below. There were
five of them initially. We installed brackets on
these tanks with virtually zero risks regarding
the gasoline in these tanks. They didn’t have to
take them out of service.

Photo 14 – Forge Bonding used to install brackets on
tanks for fire suppression systems
It was faster than welding, so it took us less

time. We did not need to hire a welding
inspector because our technicians visually
inspect each stud bond to ensure the bond is
good. Then we perform a torque test on each
stud to ensure that we have a quality bond. The
welding inspector is not needed, so that saves
cost. The tank watch person who was making
sure the level is adequate was not required. We
saved them many costs.
The fact that it was windy and the man-lift was

moving is irrelevant. Because our process is

automated, it’s all set up. It’s attached to the
tank shell, not to the man-lift, and then the
technician simply pushes a button. A few
seconds later, the bond is complete, and they
move on to the next stud.
It improved safety, improved quality, and the

customer did not have to repaint the tank after
they were done. Painting and applying coatings
is another expensive process. The cost is
substantial, and welding burns the surrounding
paint. We saved them those additional costs of
having to perform that work after the welding
was complete. See cost comparison below.

Since this chapter deals with structural repairs,
the main thought we’d like to leave with you is
that the core of our technology is friction
welding. It’s a welding process that attaches our
studs to our customers’ tanks. Our solutions are
all engineered, and we are complying with
industry standards during the engineering
process. We can provide a professional engineer
(PE) stamp from a licensed professional
mechanical engineer. They can stamp our
drawings to show that it has that backing.
With every job we do, we always deliver an

engineered package to the customer. It shows
that the proper design, the proper calculations,
the proper analysis have been performed to
ensure that the structural repair or installation
we’re going to be performing meets rigorous
engineering standards.

Chapter Eight
Here’s How We Can Help You
Frequently, we will meet a new customer, and
they know nothing about us, so we have to
introduce them to our process. Sometimes they
come to us, and they’ve heard of us by word of
mouth. Maybe they found us on the internet,
and they come to us. The first question that
we’ll ask once we’re put in touch with this
customer is, “Do you currently have a tank
problem?” If not, they say, “No, not currently,
but I’m still interested because I’m thinking for
the future.” We’ll say, “What problems do you
deal with regularly?” We’ll talk through that
with them and try to help them understand our
process and how it can be applied to help solve
their problems.
If they have a problem, we’ll ask them what the

problem is, and we’ll ask them what they have
already tried. Frequently, our customers have
already made attempts ahead of time to stop the
leaks or to install guardrails. They attempted to
weld guardrails on during turnarounds. We’ll
talk through that with them and learn a little
more about their needs and what’s important to
them.

Then we’ll ask them for technical information.
We’ll say, “If you want us to help, we need to
know about the process that’s in the tank. Is it
flammable? What metal is the tank made of?
How big is it? What’s the temperature and
pressure involved?”
We’ll gather all this technical information and

ask them, “What other parameters are we facing
in this situation? How soon do you need it
done? How long does it need to last? What
obstacles do you have in the way of being able
to work on this tank? Is the work area
congested? Are there obstructions in the way?”
Many of our customers have other piping or
valves or other tanks that are in the way, and
it’s hard to access the leak point or the area
where we want to install guardrails.
Then we’ll ask, “Can we come out and take a

look at the location where you want us to
work?” It’s much better if we can get out on the
job site. We can take measurements. We can
look for obstructions, for machinery, for
equipment, for access. How do you get onto the
tank? Sometimes that can be difficult.
It’s best if we can come out. If we cannot, or

it’s prohibitive (maybe it’s on the other side of
the world in another country), we’ll want
details. We’ll want photographs. We’ll want
them to take detailed measurements. Sometimes
we will send them drawings, and we’ll indicate
on those drawings the measurements we need to
get accurate information to start the
engineering.
Once we have all the data, we turn it over to our

engineers to provide either a concept drawing or
an engineering package. If the customer likes
the concept or design, we will put together an
estimate that will have the price and schedule
on it. Then they can decide whether they want
us to perform the work. If the engineering is
going to be difficult, we may ask for a purchase
order upfront to pay for the engineering.
After we’ve been through all of these process

steps, they’re going to have an engineering
package that will show them how we intend to
solve their problem. They’ll have a price that’s
associated with that problem. They’ll have a
schedule of how long it’s going to take, how
many days Forge Tech will be on their job site
performing the work, or it could be a licensee.
We do license our technology. Technicians

from other companies will perform the work
using our licensed Forge Bonding process. We
have a vetting process for our licensee’s and we
train the licensee’s technicians to use of our
Forge Bonding machine and to create solutions
using the Forge Bonding process. Their
technicians are trained to rigorous ASME
standards to become certified weld operators for
the certified Forge Bonding process.
The customer will have the price, design and

schedule, so they’ll know exactly what they’re
going to get, the cost and how long it will take.
That is most, if not all, of the information they
need to make their decision.
We hope that they look at all of their

alternatives to save money, improve safety at
their worksites and consider Forge Bonding as
one of those possible solutions. Forge Bonding
is not fit for every single situation. However, it
is fit for many situations that our customers
probably haven’t even considered. The more
they use us, the more they realize the broad
range of applications our process brings.
It’s usually, “I have a leak, or a guardrail is

loose.” Usually, it’s a leak. They see how we
can do that, and then we say, “Leaks are a small
part of what we do. Handrail installations are
what we do the most of, but there are many,
many other applications of our Forge Bonding
process.” In fact, Photo 15 is a recent design
for a customer whose sump failed in the middle
of their external floating roof. We designed a
new sump to restore functionality to the tank
roof by allowing the tank roof to drain properly.
Photo 15 – Sump design to repair a damaged sump

on an external floating roof
We want our customers to be satisfied with their

solution. We believe Forge Bonding can do that
like no other in many situations.

Epilogue
Though Forge Bonding has found its way into
the oil and gas and chemical industries as well
as the energy and nuclear industries, there are
many other industries that would value its
tremendous benefits; construction, maritime,
and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. Dust is
also highly flammable, even more so than
hydrocarbons, so mining (coal dust) and
farming (dusty grain silos) would also benefit.
In addition, Forge Bonding is a technology that

is ripe for invention. New applications are
being invented all the time. In addition, the
technology itself is constantly advancing with
improvements in portability, ease of use,
diversity of application, decrease in stud
spacing, and increases in the size of the stud or
fitting that can be installed. The sky is the limit
to the advances that will be introduced in the
coming years. Forge Bonding is here to stay
and grow.

Forge Tech Avoiding Tank Downtime

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Avoiding Tank

Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Copyright © 2021, Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Published in the United States of America

No parts of this publication may be reproduced without correct attribution

Experienced operators know that storage tanks

Even so, tight margins often push operators to

The purpose of this book is to introduce our

Mathew & Michael

2 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Aboveground Storage Tanks, or ASTs as they

ASTs have always been an essential component

Avoiding Tank Downtime 3

So How Do You Solve This Dilemma?

4 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

In the best-case scenario, tanks in the United

Along the way, over the 20 years between

Avoiding Tank Downtime 5

However, from time to time, tanks will have

6 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

It’s frequently prohibited, especially if the tank

Procedure Cost, and Safety

Avoiding Tank Downtime 7

If there are defects in these tanks that must be

There is the Hydro testing cost, and then they’ll

8 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Also, once you start welding on something,

Avoiding Tank Downtime 9

There are costs associated with having to make

10 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Saving Time = Saving Money

The Forge Bonding process is not just for

Let’s talk a little about the procedure. For those

Avoiding Tank Downtime 11

That’s the heart of our Forge Bonding

Once you put these threaded steel studs on a

Photo 2 – External floating roof leak repair plate.

Avoiding Tank Downtime 13

Now, we do want to point out that the tank is

The cost is dramatically lower. Instead of

14 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Avoiding Tank Downtime 15

We won’t work in an area with half an inch of

We have a story example for you that shows the

Avoiding Tank Downtime 17

They had already taken the tank out of service.

They knew about us. This was in the early days

We went out and looked at it. Over three weeks,

18 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

The Only Solution

Forge Bonding should be considered a tool for

20 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

Generally, temporary leak stops or stopgaps are

We bring state-of-the-art, intrinsically safe

Avoiding Tank Downtime 21

This intrinsically safe, mechanical bonding

A Wide Range of Costs

22 Mathew A. Rybicki & Michael L. Miller

In summary, removing a tank from service for