Glass-Lined Reactors vs. Stainless Steel Reactors

Oct. 07, 2024

Glass-Lined Reactors vs. Stainless Steel Reactors

In the world of chemical processes and manufacturing, the choice of the right reactor is crucial for efficient and safe operations. Among the myriad of options available, glass-lined reactors and stainless steel reactors are two of the most popular. Let's delve into the advantages and disadvantages of each to help you make an informed decision for your specific processing needs.

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Glass-Lined Reactors

Glass-lined vessels are not a new technology. The first glass-lined reactor was manufactured over 150 years ago. Their ability to resist corrosion and provide a chemically inert processing environment have maintained their status as an optimal technical solution for chemical and pharmaceutical processing applications.

Glass-lined reactors are built using glass enamel that is thermally fused onto the surface of carbon steel at a high temperature, in multiple phases, until an optimal glass thickness is achieved. (For the full story, read our post on How Glass-Lined Vessels are Made).

Here&#;s a rundown of what makes them so great, and also some limitations that come along with this unique material of construction.

Glass-Lined Steel Pros

Corrosion Resistance: Glass lining offers exceptional resistance to a wide range of chemicals including acids, alkalis, water, and other chemical solutions, making these reactors ideal for harsh chemical environments. In fact, many severe service applications utilize glass-lined steel because it is the only viable option for their process.
Clean Operation: The non-stick nature of glass prevents materials from adhering to the reactor walls. This ensures purity in products and simplifies cleaning.
Thermal Shock Resistance: Glass-lined reactors can withstand sudden temperature changes, which is vital in processes that involve heating and cooling cycles.
Imperviousness:
Aggressive reaction environments tend to dissolve metals from unlined mild steel reactors. Extractable metals, such as chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and copper, can leach into the process and contaminate the product, compromising its quality, negatively affecting product yield, and in some cases even cause runaway reactions. Glass-lined steel is inert, so it is impervious to contamination. Additionally, it does not adversely affect flavor or color, which is critical to applications where purity is essential.

Glass-Lined Steel Cons

Fragility: Glass is more susceptible to damage from mechanical impacts and thermal stress, leading to potential cracks and chips.
Limited Operating Conditions: Glass-lined reactors may not be suitable for very high temperature and pressure conditions.
Higher Cost: The manufacturing process of glass lining is complex and costly, which is reflected in the price of these reactors.

Glass-Lined Steel Restoration Options

When glass-lined vessels are in need of repair or refurbishment, reglassing is the optimal solution. This involves sending your old or damaged vessel to a glass-lined equipment manufacturer where they will ensure the steel substrate is a candidate for reglass, remove the existing glass lining and reapply the glass enamel, essentially creating a &#;like new&#; vessel. For more information, read our post dedicated to the reglass process.

There are many benefits to reglassing a vessel over purchasing a new piece of equipment, namely:

Delivery &#; The turnaround time to reglass is within weeks versus months to fabricate a new vessel.
Cost savings - Typically costs a fraction of the price of a new vessel.
Cash flow - Many companies find reglassing, which is a maintenance budget expenditure, preferable to a new capital expenditure
.
Warranty - All vessels reglassed by De Dietrich Process Systems come with the same warranty as new vessels. (DDPS also offers reglassing on competitors
'
equipment!)
Upgrades &#; Want to add OptiMix wall-mounted baffles to your vessel? Could your process benefit from having additional nozzles on the top head? These refurbishments and more can be made during reglassing.

Stainless Steel Reactors

Invented in in the UK, stainless steel is an inorganic chemical combination of iron, chromium and nickel. Since its discovery, it has been widely adopted in the chemical processing industry due to its resistance to corrosion, stains, and heat as well as its durability.

Stainless steel also has many use cases that prove these reactors to be a popular choice in certain processing environments. It also has its share of advantages and disadvantages, outlined below.

Stainless Steel Pros

Durability: Stainless steel is known for its strength and resistance to wear and tear, making these reactors long-lasting and resilient to physical impacts.
Versatility: These reactors can handle a wider range of temperatures and pressures, making them suitable for a variety of chemical processes.
Ease of Fabrication: Stainless steel reactors can be manufactured in various shapes and sizes, offering flexibility in design and capacity.

Stainless Steel Cons

Corrosion Concerns: While stainless steel is generally resistant to corrosion, certain chemicals can cause pitting and corrosion over time, which can contaminate and compromise the quality of the products being processed in the equipment. This is especially of concern for fine chemical and pharmaceutical applications, where the product is typically of very high value. In some applications, the material does not have adequate properties to handle chemical attack or the corrosive attack of biofilm components. Over time, as the ingredients are lost, the chance of iron oxidation increases and therefore, corrosion will occur. Despite being corrosion resistant, it can and will rust in certain conditions &#; although not as quickly or significantly as plain steels.
Cost of Material: High-quality stainless steel can be expensive, especially alloys that offer higher corrosion resistance.
Temperature Sensitivity: Under extreme temperatures, stainless steel can deform or lose its strength, limiting its use in very high-temperature processes.

Stainless Steel Restoration Options

Stainless steel does have some options available to improve and prevent the impacts of corrosion, but keep in mind these treatment methods can be costly, time-consuming, and are only temporary fixes.

Passivation is a chemical treatment process that uses nitric or citric acid to remove free iron from the equipment&#;s stainless steel surface. It also promotes the formation of a passive chromium/nickel oxide layer that acts as a barrier to further corrosion.

Electropolishing is a procedure used to remove surface defects from stainless steel. It is performed by soaking the material in an acidic bath to remove contaminants and defects from the surface, leaving a shiny and smooth finish.

Both glass-lined and stainless steel reactors have their unique advantages and limitations. The choice between them should be based on the specific chemical processes they will be used for, the operating conditions they need to withstand, and budget considerations. By understanding the pros and cons of each, you can select the reactor that best meets the needs of your chemical processing and manufacturing operations.

Here's a recap:

Steel Stainless Steel

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With glass-lined steel, the result is an affordable, superior solution ideal for chemical and pharmaceutical processes, which offers increased equipment durability, hardness and chemical resistance compared to other materials.

De Dietrich Process Systems specializes in glass-lined reactors and equipment for chemical and pharmaceutical processes. Our vessels range in size and design to accommodate a wide range of process needs. Contact us for more information, or download our Introduction to Glass-Lined Equipment White Paper.

Glass Fused to Steel Tanks Pros and Cons

Glass Fused to Steel Tanks is the most common tank specification for CSTR biogas digester reactor tanks. In this article, we discuss their pros and cons.

Enamel tanks, GFS tanks (GFtS), and Glass Fused Bolted Steel (Porcelain Enameled) tanks are all terms used to describe this type of tank.

It is essential that all anaerobic digestion tanks must be extremely durable, which means they must be resistant to corrosion as well as impact and abrasion. These tanks have that characteristic but as in most things, their advantages come with a few disadvantages. Read on and find out what those pros and cons really are.

Advantages of Glass Coating to Steel Technology

The premium coating technology in the storage tank industry is without doubt glass-fused-to-steel. Glass Fused to Steel tanks are widely utilised in bio-energy (especially CSTR biogas plants), municipal sewage, landfill leachate, and industrial wastewater treatment, among other applications.

How Hard Can It Be to Choose a Suitable Tank Material?

Isn't it supposed to be simple to pick a liquid storage tank? It's a liquid-holding tank. Is there really that much of a difference?

The truth is that all types of tanks have advantages and disadvantages, and the only way to choose the finest product is to measure their advantages and disadvantages against your demands.

Tanks Made of Glass Fused to Steel

Glass-fused steel (or enamelled steel) bolted tanks are a premium breakthrough technology that is engineered for long-term performance with absolutely minimal maintenance.

These tanks are not only the most preferred tank material for biogas digesters because they combine the toughness of steel with the corrosion resistance of glass. They're also ideal for storing potable water, wastewater, industrial chemicals, bio-digesters, sludge, and dry bulk materials, among other things.

Enamel frit (glass compounds) is chemically fused with steel sheets in a state-of-the-art furnace at very high temperatures (800 &#; 1,000 degrees C) to generate an integrated porcelain-like coating that is securely bonded, chemically inert, and impermeable to liquids.

Suppliers quote these tanks as having a range of 140°F at 3-11 pH which they can withstand without corrosion.

They also have a long track record of proven performance, with tens of thousands installed globally for municipal and industrial uses over the past 65 years.

Advantages of Glass Fused to Steel Tanks

The strength and flexibility of steel are combined with the remarkable corrosion resistance of glass in glass fused to steel liquid tanks. This has a number of advantages over traditional epoxy coated or welded painted storage tanks, including:

Outstanding anti-corrosion properties
In the factory, fast installation is combined with high-quality design, production, and quality control.
Safe and skill-free: The operator has no need for long-term worker training, and as there is virtually no maintenance for the plant owner his operatives spend less time working aloft.
Local weather has a negligible effect on these tanks
Low initial investment &#; particularly relevant for biogas digesters and for industrial wastewater treatment projects
Low-cost maintenance and easy-to-repair
Low life-cycle costs from this lifetime coating
Possibility of relocating, expanding, and repurposing
They look good in a choice of colours
Much easier to clean than unlined equipment
Each tank is tailored to the particular application.

Even stainless steel tanks, while normally an ideal material for these tanks, cannot withstand the high sulphur which may accumulate at the top rim of commercial digester tanks.

Glass Fused To Steel Tank Disadvantages

It's not all good news when considering Glass Fused To Steel Tanks. The drawbacks are not large, but worth noting as follows:

Joints, where the GFS Tank is bolted down to the concrete base slab that serves as the tank's base, must be carefully designed and sealed to avoid leaks developing
Physical damage, such as being hit by a crane when moving other sections of the digester, such as pumps, may cause the glass coating to chip off at the point of impact
A competitor technology is concrete vs steel biogas tanks for Anaerobic Digestion Plants where concrete provides much better insulation. Generally, concrete digester tanks do not need thermal insulation and this avoids the costs of adding a layer of insulation around GFS Tanks.
If the tank must be buried or partially buried, a steel tank is typically less suited to the soil loads that this imposes than a reinforced concrete walled tank
Make sure that the GFS tank you buy has edge corrosion protection as they are bolted steel tanks. Unless the panel edges are also coated there may be a long-term problem.

However, all of the above issues can be prevented by following excellent design, installation, and operation practices.

In temperate countries, digester tanks are generally covered with thermal insulation material and on the outer edge, plastic-coated aluminium profile sheeting.

The reason that this is done is to protect the insulation once installed. This also shields the tanks from accidental impact damage to the fused-to-glass-enamel while they're in use.

The Main GFS Tank Disadvantage can be Initial Cost

All the pros we have mentioned are great, but, the most significant disadvantage of GFS tanks can be their cost. Glass-lined tanks are often much more expensive than epoxy tanks.

As a result, many businesses may, at first sight, think that they will be unable to afford the upfront fees. However, it's worth looking into the total cost of ownership over the tank's lifetime, as maintenance costs are reduced and they don't need to be changed as frequently with a GFS.

Quality Assurance and Standards for Glass-Fused-To-Steel Bolted Tanks

Engineers and industry professionals all over the world are opting for glass-fused-to-steel tanks. These defect-resistant storage tanks will give decades of trouble-free operation in difficult conditions. But, tanks glass fused do need to be built using this unique glass-fused-to-steel technology and controlled for the highest quality by ISO certification.

When well manufactured, porcelain-enameled tanks never need recoating.

While steel, aluminium, cast iron, copper, and brass can all be used as glass coating substrates, porcelain enamelled tanks are made of steel. The type of steel used is usually determined by the tank's size requirements. The larger tanks may need a tougher grade of steel.

Delivering Quality Glass-Fused-to-Steel Tanks

But only purchase from manufacturers who offer ISO certification, which entails more than 16 standard examinations before units are approved for sale. Glass Fused to Steel tanks are ideal for the containment of potable, municipal, agricultural, and industrial fluids because to their low maintenance requirements and inherent resistance to contamination.

Erection of Bolted Steel Panels and the Construction of a Base Slab

The top GFS Tank suppliers and erectors provide a full service, from foundation installation through sidewall erection and roof construction.

When compared to in-situ cast concrete options, tanks are typically constructed in a week or two, including roofs or domes, saving the owner significant money on onsite labour expenditures.

The Ultimate Flat Pack!

Tanks are supplied flat-packed to the construction site for simple transport and handling.

The main components of the kit are the glass-fused-to-steel panels, which are ready to bolt together and include any custom cut-outs for nozzles, manways, and other accessories as needed.

Building crews educated and certified in the erection process are provided by the leading firms, ensuring the same level of quality control in the field as in the factory. The panels are bolted together and sealed with a high-performance seal that is appropriate for the substance being stored.

Bolt Head Protection

To protect the bolt heads from corrosion in the process environment, they are all plastic-capped.

The bolt head seals the shank and protects it from contact with process fluids by squeezing mastic between the panels.

For the building of these tanks, only properly trained erectors should be used. This isn't something that can be accomplished efficiently with general on-site labour.

Bio-Energy GFS Tanks Conclusion

Liquid storage tanks are available in a variety of forms and capacities ranging from hundreds to millions of gallons to fulfill the most demanding storage requirements. GFS tanks or tanks glass fused are the most popular single tank type.

Many biogas plant experts do say that Glass Fused To Steel Tanks are a good choice for CSTRs and many other &#;wet process&#; anaerobic digestion process operations.

In fact, no other tank can compete with this one when it comes to holding aggressive liquids like digestate or wastewater, since the tank covering is resistant to chemical attacks that would otherwise destroy and ruin other tanks.

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