Storage tank

1 Special features

This article is about a storage tank. For other uses, see

Tank (disambiguation).
Storage tanks are containers that hold liquids, com-

Spherical gas tank farm in the petroleum renery in Karlsruhe

MiRO
Cylindrical fuel storage tank with xed roof and internal oating
roof. Capacity approx 2,000,000 litres

pressed gases (gas tank) or mediums used for the shortor long-term storage of heat or cold.[1] The term can be
used for reservoirs (articial lakes and ponds), and for
manufactured containers. The usage of the word tank for
reservoirs is uncommon in American English but is moderately common in British English. In other countries, the
term tends to refer only to articial containers.

Since most liquids can spill, evaporate, or seep through

even the smallest opening, special consideration must
made for their safe and secure handling. This usually involves building a bunding, or containment dike, around
the tank, so that any leakage may be safely contained.
Some storage tanks need a oating roof in addition to or
in lieu of the xed roof and structure. This oating roof
rises and falls with the liquid level inside the tank, thereby
decreasing the vapor space above the liquid level. Floating roofs are considered a safety requirement as well as a
pollution prevention measure for many industries including petroleum rening.

In the USA, storage tanks operate under no (or very little) pressure, distinguishing them from pressure vessels.
Storage tanks are often cylindrical in shape, perpendicular to the ground with at bottoms, and a xed or oating
roof. There are usually many environmental regulations
applied to the design and operation of storage tanks, often depending on the nature of the uid contained within.
Above ground storage tanks (AST) dier from underground (UST) storage tanks in the kinds of regulations
that are applied.

In the United States, metal tanks in contact with soil

and containing petroleum products must be protected
from corrosion to prevent escape of the product into the
environment.[2] The most eective and common corroReservoirs can be covered, in which case they may be sion control techniques for steel in contact with soil is
called covered or underground storage tanks or reservoirs. cathodic protection.
Covered water tanks are common in urban areas.

Storage tanks are available in many shapes: vertical and

horizontal cylindrical; open top and closed top; at bottom, cone bottom, slope bottom and dish bottom. Large
tanks tend to be vertical cylindrical, or to have rounded
corners transition from vertical side wall to bottom prole, to easier withstand hydraulic hydrostatically induced
pressure of contained liquid. Most container tanks for
handling liquids during transportation are designed to
handle varying degrees of pressure.

2 For reneries
Tanks for a particular uid are chosen according to the
ash-point of that substance. Generally in reneries and
especially for liquid fuels, there are xed roof tanks, and
oating roof tanks.
1. Fixed roof tanks are meant for liquids with very
high ash points, (e.g. fuel oil, water, bitumen
etc.) Cone roofs, dome roofs and umbrella roofs are
usual. These are insulated to prevent the clogging

A large storage tank is sometimes mounted on a lorry

(truck) or on an articulated lorry trailer, which is then
called a tanker.
1

3 OTHER TYPES OF TANK

of certain materials, wherein the heat is provided by
steam coils within the tanks. Dome roof tanks are
meant for tanks having slightly higher storage pressure than that of atmosphere (e.g. slop oil).
2. Floating roof tanks are broadly divided into external
oating roof tanks (usually called as oating
roof tanks:FR Tanks) and internal oating roof
types(IFR Tanks).

IFR tanks are used for liquids with low ash-points(e.g.

ATF, MS. gasoline, ethanol). These tanks are nothing but
cone roof tanks with a oating roof inside which travels
up and down along with the liquid level. This oating roof
traps the vapor from low ash-point fuels. Floating roofs
are supported with legs or cables on which they rest. FR
tanks do not have a xed roof (it is open in the top) and
has a oating roof only. Medium ash point liquids such
as naphtha, kerosene, diesel, crude oil etc. are stored in
these tanks.

Horizontal, cylindrical shell, elliptical heads carbon steel pressure

vessel

3.2 High pressure

Main article: Gas cylinder

In the case of a liqueed gas such as hydrogen or chlorine,

or a compressed gas such as compressed natural gas or
One of the common types found in mining areas is, open MAPP, the storage tank must be made to withstand the
roof type tank, usually to store ore slurries. obviously sometimes immense pressures exerted by the contents.
these are the easiest storage tanks to be constructed.
These tanks may be called cylinders and, being pressure
vessels,
are sometimes excluded from the class of tanks.
Other classication which can be made for storage tanks
are based upon their location in a renery:
COT- crude oil tankages

3.3 Thermal storage tanks

One form of seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) is

the use of large surface water tanks that are insulated and
then covered with earth berms to enable the year-round of
DISPATCH- dispatch area tankages
solar-thermal heat that is collected primarily in the summer for all-year heating.[3] A related technology has beUTILITIES- tanks made in the power plant area, for
come widespread in Danish district heating systems. The
storage water etc.
thermal storage medium is gravel and water in large, shallow, lined pits that are covered with insulation, soil and
OSBL tanks- the rst 3 types come under out side
grass.[4]
battery limit tankages
Ice and slush tanks are used for short-term of cold for use
ISBL tanks- these are usually mini tanks which are in air conditioning, allowing refrigeration equipment to
found in the production units of a renery (as neu- be run at night when electric power is less expensive, yet
provide cooling during hot daytime hours.
tralisation tanks, water tanks etc.)

PIT- product and intermediate storage tankages

As ash-points of fuels go very low the tanks are usually

spherical (known as spheres), tom store LPG, hydrogen, 3.4 Milk tank
hexane, nitrogen, oxygen etc.
Main article: Bulk tank
In dairy farming a bulk milk cooling tank is a large storage
tank for cooling and holding milk at a cold temperature
until it can be picked up by a milk hauler. The bulk milk
3.1 Atmospheric
cooling tank is an important milk farm equipment. It is
usually made of stainless steel and used every day to store
An atmospheric tank is a container for holding a liquid at the raw milk on the farm in good condition. It must be
atmospheric pressure. The major design code for welded cleaned after each milk collection. The milk cooling tank
atmospheric tanks are API 650 and API 620. API 653 is can be the property of the farmer or being rented to the
used for analysis of in-service storage tanks.
farmer by the dairy plant.

Other types of tank

3.5

Septic tank

Main article: Septic tank

A septic tank is part of a small scale sewage treatment
system often referred to as a septic system,. It consists of
the tank and a septic drain eld. Waste water enters the
tank where solids can settle and scum oats. Anaerobic
digestion occurs on the settled solids, reducing the volume
of solids. The water released by the system is normally
absorbed by the drain eld without needing any further
treatment.

3.6

There have been many other accidents caused by tanks

since then, often caused by faulty welding or by substandard steel. New inventions have at least xed some
of the more common issues around the tanks seal.[6][7]
However, storage tanks also present another problem,
surprisingly, when empty. If they have been used to hold
oil or oil products such as gasoline, the atmosphere in
the tanks may be highly explosive as the space lls with
hydrocarbons. If new welding operations are started, then
sparks can easily ignite the contents, with disastrous results for the welders. The problem is similar to that of
empty bunkers on tanker ships, which are now required to
use an inert gas blanket to prevent explosive atmospheres
building up from residues.

Mobile storage tanks

While not strictly a storage tank, mobile tanks share

many of the same features of storage tanks. Also, they
must be designed to deal with a heavy sloshing load and
the risk of collision or other accident. Some of these include ocean-going oil tankers and LNG carriers; railroad
tank cars; and the road and highway traveling tankers.
Also included are the holding tanks which are the tanks
that store toilet waste on RVs and boats.

6 Images
Oxygen and MAPP gas cylinders
Milk cooling tank
Fuel tanks
Septic tank
Tanker truck

Materials of construction

Several large tanks at an airport. For scale, note concrete highway barriers.

Underground fuel storage tank for service station

While steel and concrete remain one of the most popular
choices for tanks, glass-reinforced plastic, thermoplastic
and polyethylene tanks are increasing in popularity. They
oer lower build costs and greater chemical resistance, 7 Etymology
especially for storage of speciality chemicals. There
are several relevant standards, such as British Standard
The word tank originally meant articial lake and
4994 (1989), DVS (German Welding Institute) 2205,
came from India, perhaps via Portuguese tanque. It may
and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
have some connection with:
[5]
RTP-1
which give advice on wall thickness, quality control procedures, testing procedures, accreditation,
Some Indian language words similar to tak or
fabrication and design criteria of nal product.
tank and meaning "reservoir for water. In
Sanskrit a holding pond or reservoir is called a
tadaka. Gujarati talao means man-made lake.
5 Tank failures
These uses of the word were incorporated into the
English language.[8]
There have been numerous catastrophic failures of stor The Arabic verb istanqa`a = it [i.e. some
age tanks, one of the most notorious being that which
liquid] collected and became stagnant.
occurred at Boston Massachusetts USA on January 14,
1919. The large tank had only been lled eight times
when it failed, and resulting wave of molasses killed 21
people in the vicinity. The Boston molasses disaster was 8 See also
caused by poor design and construction, with a wall too
Aquarium, also known as a sh tank
thin to bear repeated loads from the contents. The tank
had not been tested before use by lling with water, and
Ballast tank
was also poorly riveted. The owner of the tank, United
States Industrial Alcohol Company, paid out $300,000
Chemical tank
(nearly $4 million in 2012 ) in compensation to the vic Drop tank, in aviation
tims or their relatives.

10
Dunk tank
Fuel tank
Irrigation tank, in India, an articial lake or reservoir
of any size
Isolation tank
Rainwater tank

EXTERNAL LINKS

Code of Federal Register - CFR Title 21 Part 129

This information is excerpted from the Code of Federal Register, a US Government document, it is published as part of the Federal Register, these are both
government rules and guidelines of water tank design and suggestions for installations. This data is
found incrementally in the CFR.
Plastic tank failures

Rotating tank, used for uid mechanics experiments

Storage tanks for food grade applications suggestions FDA Best Practice for Handling Tanks.

Scuba tank a container which holds a supply of air

for breathing underwater

Atmospheric Storage Tanks (API 650 and API 653)

Calculations

Stock tank, for watering livestock

Temple tank, in India, a well or reservoir built as
part of a temple complex
Underground storage tank
Water tank

References

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tank
[2] Code of Federal Regulations 40 CFR 280.31 Operation
and maintenance of corrosion protection.
[3] Pauschinger T. (2012). Solar District Heating with Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage in Germany. Presentation. European Sustainable Energy Week, Brussels. 18
22 June 2012.
[4] Holm L. (2012). Long Term Experiences with Solar District Heating in Denmark. Presentation. European Sustainable Energy Week, Brussels. 1822 June 2012.
[5] ASME RTP-1-2005 Part 1-110 (Scope of Standard)
[6] Industrial Tank Cleaning Mixer. Waterline Tank Technologies LLC. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
[7] 1910.110(e)(4)(i)". United States Department of Labor
- OSHA. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
[8] Architecture on the Indian Subcontinent - glossary. Retrieved 2006-12-18.

10

External links

Popular Storage Tank Videos

Storage tank dip charts and volumes
Use of storage tanks and vessels in Oil & Gas industry

11
11.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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