There are many situations where an industry will need a large tank on the premises; these field erected tanks are used to store what is known as “feed stock.” Feed stock is any material that is needed in whatever industrial process that is happening in the facility, it can be anything from raw chemicals to grain or even water.
These large field erected tanks are usually all steel or a metal tank with a liner or bladder; they can store thousands of gallons of feed stock. Depending on the size and the physical layout of the facility, the tanks can be erected above the height of the system or if this is not practical, the contents will be pumped from the tank to the process equipment. To make sure that the contents of the tank are kept balanced, most have level gauges that can be monitored by equipment and facility personnel. When the level of feed stock reaches a certain level, additional material is brought in, often by tank trucks that fills the tanks from the top,
Although in many cases the contents of the tank are consumed in their entirety, there are situations where the process generates excess which must be stored. This is quite often the case in a steam generation power plant. When water is passed through the equipment, the power in the steam is used of course to turn the turbines, once it has done its job it reverts to water. This excess water is held in large field erected tanks and recycled many times over.
Many large tanks are in evidence at municipal water treatment plants. Although the water that is piped to your home is filtered and treated for bacteria, in many municipalities it is also treated with fluorine which has been shown to be effective in fighting tooth decay. This chemical is kept in tanks and then introduced automatically into the water system; this is also the same with chlorine. When the tank holds an aggressive chemical such as chlorine it will invariably have a bladder or liner so that the chemical does not affect the steel outer casing.
Grains are also commonly stored in tanks, these tanks can be at the farm or at a processing facility such as a brewery that uses considerable amounts of barley in production of the beer.
