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Cryogenic temperature tank wall and roof | Owens Corning Insulation
Owens Corning

Thermal insulation tank wall and roof solutions for tanks operating at cryogenic temperatures.

Our tank wall and roof systems will limit heat transfer and provide moisture, corrosion and mechanical resistance so that process control is assured.

Tanks with operating temperatures lower than - 50°C (- 58°F) are often called cryogenic storage tanks, these can contain products like ethane, ethylene, LNG, liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, etc.

For tanks operating at temperature lower than -50°C (- 58°F), the generally adopted solution consists in building a tank with two walls between which expanded perlite is poured. The insulation can easily be one meter thick and even more.

LNG tanks

In the case of tanks operating at temperatures lower than - 50°C (- 58°F) one finds more or less the same concepts but adapted to poured in situ insulation:

  • the double steel tank - the inside tank in special steel to withstand cryogenic temperatures and an exterior tank in normal carbon steel, with poured in situ perlite between the two tanks.
  • the same concept with a bund wall around it
  • the double containment tank, in which the inside tank is built in cryogenic steel and the exterior tank in concrete with a normal carbon steel or mastic liner on its inside face. In this case the insulation is again perlite poured in situ between the two tanks, sometimes completed by a solid insulation/protection system applied on the liner of the outside concrete tank. This secondary insulation is aimed at protecting the liner and the concrete against the cryogenic thermal shock that it will have to withstand if the inside tank should have a major failure, particularly the so called "brittle failure".
LNG tank roof

Typical configuration for cryogenic temperature tank wall and roof applications:

  • a possible anti-corrosion layer on the surface to be insulated
  • one or several layers of FOAMGLAS® cellular glass adhered with PC® adhesive, the joints being filled with the same product
  • depending on the situation, a fabric reinforced coating or a metal jacket with the needed straps to keep it in place