Your Essential Guide to Bulk Storage Tank Fabrication
13 March 2020Bulk storage tank fabrication is the process of designing and building containers of organic liquids, non-organic liquids, vapours, or solids. These custom tanks are specifically designed and built with a customer’s need and usage in mind. Industries where storage tanks can be found are typically industries consuming or producing goods, liquids, and or vapours. Industries like petroleum either in producing or manufacturing petroleum, chemical engineering and or manufacturing, and the agriculture industry for bulk storage. Below is an essential guide to bulk storage tank fabrication.
Types of Bulk Storage Tanks
Spherical Storage Tanks
These are mainly used for storage of high-pressure fluids. The curved shape makes spherical tanks very strong. The even distribution of stresses on the sphere’s surfaces, both internally and externally, generally means that there are no weak points. Spheres however, are much more costly to manufacture than cylindrical vessels. An advantage of spherical storage vessels is that they have a smaller surface area per unit volume than any other shape of vessel.
Cylindrical Storage Tanks
Cylinders are widely used for storage due to their being less expensive to produce than spheres. However, cylinders are not as strong as spheres due to the weak point at each end. Hemispherical or rounded ends being fitted reduce this weakness. If the whole cylinder is manufactured from thicker material than a comparable spherical vessel of similar capacity, storage pressure can be similar to that of a sphere.
Fixed Roof Storage Tanks
Fixed-roof tanks are usually the least expensive to construct. They are generally considered the minimum acceptable equipment for storing liquids. A typical fixed-roof tank consists of a cylindrical steel shell with a cone- or dome-shaped roof that is permanently affixed to the tank shell. Storage tanks are usually fully welded and designed for both liquid and vapour. A breather valve is often installed on fixed-roof tanks. This allows the tank to operate at a slight internal pressure or vacuum. This valve prevents the release of vapours during only very small changes in temperature, barometric pressure, or liquid level.
Floating Roof Storage Tanks
Storage tanks with floating roof are mainly used for stores near atmospheric pressure. Floating roofs are designed to move vertically within the frame of the tank to provide a constant minimum gap between product surface and the ceiling and provide a continuous seal between the periphery of the tank and the floating roof. These can be made of a type that is exposed to the environment or a type that is within a fixed roof. The internal floating roof tanks with an external fixed roof are used in areas of heavy snowfall since the accumulation of snow or water affects the operation of buoyancy.
Materials for Bulk Storage Tanks
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is a common option for storage tanks, and with good reason. Welded stainless steel tanks are incredibly durable, as well. Stainless steel offers resistance to corrosion, rust, fire and UV light, which means that these tanks last considerably longer than welded steel or concrete. A welded stainless steel tank is also a leak-free storage solution, meaning you can trust that what you store inside will stay inside.
Carbon Steel
Carbon steel has higher carbon content than stainless steel. Because of the larger amounts of carbon, tanks created with this material offer better heat distribution. This is useful for customers who plan on heating the contents of their tank. Carbon steel is also wear resistant, which is an important quality in an industrial tank, as well as malleable. The higher carbon content makes the steel harder and stronger than other steels. Tanks made with carbon steel tend to be more affordable.
Sureweld Engineering will help you with the necessary tools and expertise in this endeavour. We are a newly formed company that has 14 years experience in on and off shore welding expertise.
