Pressure vessels are crucial equipment and play a vital role in industries such as food, chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas. It is designed to store gases or liquids at pressures higher or lower than the atmospheric pressure. We use these vessels to store or transport different liquids, solids or even gases. In this blog, we will explore the types of pressure vessels commonly used in industry.
What are pressure vessels?
Pressure vessels are closed containers containing liquids or gases at much greater or lower pressure than the ambient pressure. They are either fired like boilers, or unfired such as storage tanks, processing vessels, and heat exchangers.
These vessels are designed and manufactured according to stringent regulations because they operate under incredible pressure. These regulations aim to guarantee their safety and reliability. These regulations aim to minimise the risk of injury due to the potential energy stored within the vessel in the event of failure.
- Section VIII of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) is the American standard for pressure vessels and is the most widely used code. It set guidelines for the design, fabrication, inspection, and testing of pressure vessels.
- EN-1344 is the European standard for unfired pressure vessels.
- IS 2825 (1969) is the Indian standard for unfired pressure vessels, while the Indian Boiler Act of 1923 governs the regulations for fired pressure vessels.
Different types of pressure vessels can be classified on the basis of:
- Application: What purpose does the vessel serve? Is it for storing materials, transferring heat, or facilitating reactions?
- Materials of construction: What are the different types of materials used?
- Design and Shape: How is the vessel shaped, and what materials are used?
Types of pressure vessels according to application
Storage tanks
These vessels hold liquids or gases, from raw materials to finished products. Their specific design varies based on the volume, pressure, and material stored.
Heat Exchangers
These are devices that transfer heat between two or more fluids at different temperatures. They are essential in industries like food, pharmaceuticals, and energy. They are composed of a network of tubes and a chamber housed within the pressure vessel. The operation of the heat exchanger depends on the thermal and flow characteristics of the fluids engaged in heat exchange, as well as the thermal characteristic of the conductive partition (in the case of indirect contact heat exchangers).
Boilers
These pressure vessels convert water into steam or hot water, which industries use for process applications or power generation. Boilers are primarily used for industrial applications but can also be found in residential or commercial buildings.
Process Vessels
Various industries use these to carry out various industrial processes like mixing, agitation, decantation, distillation, chemical separation, and mass separation. They can handle pressure and temperature and are used in industries like refineries, food and drug manufacturing, chemicals, and paint. Process vessels can be classified into:
- Without internals, drums and tanks
- With internal components like mixers, reactors, and distillation columns.
Material of construction
We can classify pressure vessels based on the material of construction (MOC):
- Metal pressure vessel: Metal pressure vessels are the most prevalent kind of pressure vessel. Manufacturers usually construct them from Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel, Aluminium, and Nickel alloys. These vessels are renowned for their sturdiness, strength, and corrosion resistance.
- Non-metal pressure vessels: Industries use materials like composites, polymers, and ceramics for these vessels. They are employed where cost, weight, or corrosion resistance are factors. Pressure vessels made of non-metal are widely used in the electronics, automotive, and aerospace industries.
Want to learn more about pressure vessel materials?
The two main pressure vessel shapes are
Cylindrical pressure vessels
These are the most common type of pressure vessels because of their affordability and ease of production. They consist of a cylindrical body with rounded or flat end caps (heads). However, the connection point between the cylindrical body and the rounded ends (heads) can be weak. To compensate, these vessels may have thicker walls or specially designed heads to improve strength. The cylindrical vessel’s axis can be either vertical or horizontal.
Vertical pressure vessels
The vessels stand upright along their longitudinal axis, running vertically from the base to the top.
Applications: Mixing tanks where a high amount of gas compared to liquid. In water treatment plants and breweries, the vertical design helps in the sedimentation process and efficient storage of liquids.
Advantages: Space efficiency, perfect for mixing gas or vapours with liquids, the design allows for natural separation, and versatility.
Disadvantages: Access for cleaning can be trickier, headroom limits height and capacity and may require shell reinforcement.
Horizontal cylindrical pressure vessels
The vessels lie horizontally, with their longitudinal axis parallel to the ground.
Applications: storage, separation, settling, heat exchangers, flash drums, mixing, phase separation, and quick discharge
Advantages: Even stress distribution, easily accessible, allows for natural drainage, and versatile.
Disadvantages: Requires more support, may have lower pressure rating due to stress distribution, and increased cost due to support structures.
Types of Pressure Vessel Heads (for Cylindrical Vessels)
Since cylindrical vessels have inherent weaknesses at the head connections, the head design plays a crucial role in their strength:
- Hemispherical: Perfect for high-pressure applications and large vessels due to even pressure distribution. However, they’re trickier to make and attach to the body. They also require the least amount of material for a given pressure rating.
- Torispherical: The most economical and easiest to manufacture. They’re ideal for lower-pressure situations (less than 15 bars) and height-restricted spaces due to their flatter profile.
- Ellipsoidal: A good compromise between cost and strength. They can handle higher pressures (over 15 bars) and offer a good height-to-weight ratio. The head and body typically have the same wall thickness.
Spherical pressure vessels
These vessels are designed to handle high pressure because the internal and external forces are evenly distributed across their entire round surface, eliminating weak points. Unfortunately, this ideal design comes at a cost – they’re expensive and difficult to fabricate.
Need pressure vessels? We can help
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- Pre-qualified Vendors: We’ve already vetted a network of reliable pressure vessel suppliers, saving you time and effort.
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Detailed Vendor Profiles: Gain valuable insights into each vendor’s capabilities and experience through our in-depth profiles.
Complete procurement support:
Venwiz empowers you to take control of your procurement process. Our comprehensive support system lets you send RFQs directly , compare quotes from multiple vendors side-by-side, and utilize our milestone management tools to keep your project on track and ensure timely completion.
Read more about how to choose pressure vessel fabricators in the FMCG sector.
Top pressure vessel supplier
Let Venwiz connect you with the right pressure vessel supplier for your project.
Some of the top pressure vessel tank vendors on our platform
Isgec Hitachi Zosen Limited
Isgec Hitachi Zosen Limited was established in 2012 in Bharuch, Gujarat. Their certification proves their strong commitment to quality and safety. With a workforce of 10 dedicated professionals, Isgec Hitachi Zosen Limited specialises in the design, fabrication, manufacture, and supply of process equipment, including hydraulic and mechanical presses, boilers, reactors, pressure vessels, and ammonia converters. They serve industries such as power & energy, metals & mining, industrial machinery & tools, chemicals, and oil & gas.
Nuberg Engineering Ltd.
Nuberg Engineering Ltd. specialises in EPC/LSTK projects and the design, supply, and fabrication of static equipment such as Heat Exchangers, Pressure Vessels, Columns, Reactors, and Tanks. They offer heavy fabrication, machining, heavy equipment manufacture, site construction & erection, commissioning & performance test runs, re-location, re-vamping, and de-bottlenecking, and EPMC for process & utility packages.
Grand Prix Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
Grand Prix Engineering Pvt. Ltd. company specialises in the manufacture and supply of a wide range of equipment including strainers, basket strainers, filters, filter separators, scrubbers/ ko drums, coalescers, 2-phase & 3-phase separators, silencers, gas conditioning & other skid systems, lube/seal oil system, indirect gas fired water bath heaters, and pressure vessels. They serve industries such as Power & Energy, Metals & Mining, Civil & Construction, and others.
Venwiz partners with you throughout the procurement process to ensure faster vendor discovery and at least 10% cost savings.
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