CLH Central Laboratory
The CLH Group The CLH Group is the leading company in the Spanish market for the transportation and storage of oil products and also for the distribution and service-into-plane supply of aviation fuels. Its main activity is the storage and transportation of oil products, and for this it has one of the largest, most efficient integrated transport and storage networks in the world with over 4,000 kilometres of pipeline, 39 storage facilities, 28 airport facilities and a storage capacity of 7.9 million cubic metres that are at the disposal of all oil operators that do business in Spain. One of CLH s commitments is total quality. It achieves this with a number of resources that include a Central Laboratory whose basic aim is to guarantee product quality by guaranteeing the reliability of both methods and results, and the satisfaction of internal and external customers alike.
Central Laboratory The CLH Group s Central Laboratory is a modern product analysis centre and is a key part of the company s quality system. This centre is also one of the most prestigious laboratories in Europe on a nationwide and international level in the field of fuel technology. This laboratory, which is located in San Fernando de Henares in Madrid province, has over 60 years experience and carries out important work for guaranteeing the quality and reliability of the products transported by CLH. This centre is also the reference laboratory and coordinates the network of laboratories operated by the company in seven other Spanish cities. The main activities of the laboratory focus on quality control analyses carried out on fuels and biofuels, besides the development and verification of control methods as the ultimate quality guarantee for the products that enter the company s logistics chain. It also performs environmental tests for the characterization and behaviour of materials and additives, through instrumental analysis techniques. This laboratory can determine all the quality characteristics required by law for fuels and performs a large number of additional tests for the characterization and behaviour of fuels, many of them using methods that have been developed internally.
Quality guarantee The Central Laboratory plays an important role in identifying and solving possible incidents that can occur during the fuel distribution process or at the company s own facilities. Another important characteristic is that it possesses a sophisticated management system for specimens and results, which is integrated into the CLH systems and means that instantaneous monitoring and exchange of information on the characteristics of all the products stored and distributed by the company s network can be carried out. The CLH Central Laboratory holds the ISO 9001 certificate for physical and chemical testing of petroleum fuels and special products, besides ENAC accreditation in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for carrying out characterization tests on oil products and biofuels, and environmental analyses. This centre subjects its work to periodic exhaustive comparisons with other national and international centres through results correlation tests, taking part in over 400 tests every year. It also lays down the technical procedures for the other laboratories operated by the company and selects the analysis methods to be used. Besides this, it offers support to other peripheral laboratories in monitoring and adjusting the equipment they have. On the other hand, and in order to check that all centres follow the same standards in their work, the company has developed a Periodic Analysis Control Plan which means that the quality of all analytical processes can be controlled and a check can be made to ensure that all results are uniform.
External collaboration Modern facilities The CLH Central Laboratory collaborates with the Spanish scientific community and holds collaboration agreements with various universities and vocational training centres for carrying out research work, holding master s degree courses and for training students in the practical side of their studies, besides participating in national and European working groups on fuel specifications and in conferences in various specialized forums. This centre also operates as an independent analysis laboratory, meaning that any individual or company that is interested can hire its services. The number of specimens and tests that are received from third parties increases by the year, with the annual average for the laboratory s activity standing at over 162,000 tests. The Central Laboratory is housed in a new building that was opened in 2008. It covers an area of 2,000 square metres that are distributed into 8 analysis rooms, and is fitted out with automatic equipment for fuel analysis and characterization, as well as numerous pieces of instrumental analysis technique equipment. Besides this, the new building has also been fitted with energy-saving measures and solar panels that enable it to generate part of the energy it consumes, and there are also specific areas where material can be recycled. Testers, analysts and technicians, all of whom have a high level of training in this field, make up the total of around twenty people who work at these facilities.
Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos CLH, S.A. Titán, 13. 28045 Madrid. Spain Tel.: (+34) 91 774 60 00 infoclh@clh.es www.clh.es