Chemical Tanks
Chemical tanks made of plastic provide superior resistance to harsh chemicals that no other material can match. Plastic tanks are used in chemical storage, chemical processing, chemical draining, chemical filtration and transit applications in industrial settings. The pharmaceutical, aerospace, laboratory and chemical manufacturing industries all use plastic tanks to safely store aggressive materials. Polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are all plastics strong enough to resist most harsh chemical erosion and damage. The most common construction seen in chemical housing applications are tanks with dome tops and flat bottoms. Cone bottom tanks are used for chemical draining, while horizontal transit tanks are for chemical delivery. Many tanks that hold chemicals exhibit double wall construction, which protects against spilling.
Plastic tanks have the ability to hold aggressive materials that have negative effects on many other types of materials-mostly chemicals which are at either end of the ph scale and have reactions with common substances. Polyethylene and polypropylene are chemically resistant enough to hold alkaline solutions, mineral oils, amines, jet fuel, hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite. PVDF, however, is able to hold even stronger chemicals that polys cannot, including benzene, toluene and inorganic acid solutions. While plastic is the number one choice for chemical applications, all harsh chemicals will cause small cracks, an unavoidable process called crating, in plastic materials.