Spherical tank for the storage of liquid gas, Germany

Hydrocarbons such as butane or propane are often stored in chemical production plants in spherical tanks, some of which can hold a volume of several thousand cubic metres. They have an extremely important function for the operation of the plants, as they ensure the safe storage of flammable substances required or produced in processes.

This places the highest demands on fire protection coatings for these systems in order to keep them in operation for a long time. Among other things, they must meet the following requirements:

• Resistance to environmental influences: The fire protection systems must withstand an aggressive industrial atmosphere (C5 according to ISO 12944) or offshore conditions (C5 according to ISO 20340 or CX according to ISO 12944) over a period of sometimes more than 20 years. In addition, they must effectively protect the steel from corrosion over this period.
• Resistance to pool fires (burning pools) or jet fires (burning gases escaping under pressure) with extremely rapidly rising and high fire temperatures.
• Resistance to pressure waves that could be caused by explosions in the vicinity of the equipment.
• Protection of the steel against very cold liquids (cryogenic load due to expansion of compressed gases = cryogenic spill).
• High visual requirements: Due to their sometimes enormous size and exposed location, they are visible from afar and represent the clean and safe operation of the entire plant.