A MONTH OF ISO STANDARDIZATION

Cryogenic vessels for

the storage and transportation
of compressed gases
in liquid form
By Mr. Herv Barthlemy, convenor
of ISO/TC 220, Cyrogenic vessels, WG 1, Design
and construction

Cryogenic Vessels have

been commonly used for
more than 40 years for the
storage and transportation
of industrial and medical
gases. The advantage of
storing gases in such a
form is obvious : in a
volume of 1 litre of liquid,
about 800 litres of gas can
be stored. This represents
a clear advantage over
the transportation of such
gases in compressed form,
which is done today at
pressures of 200-300 bar
(less gas per volume unit)
and requires thick wall
(and heavy vessels)
to resist the high pressure.
Table 1: Boiling temperatures at
atmospheric pressure of different
gases

Gases

Kr

O2

Ar

The disadvantage is, of course, that the

gases need to be refrigerated down to
very low temperatures to be in liquid
form. In Table 1, are given the temperature gas/liquid equilibrium for different
gases under a pressure of one atmosphere. For gases being stored at such low
temperatures, it is necessary to use high
efficiency (vacuum) insulated vessels.
E

Vessel support

Protection of
outer jacket
Inner
vessel

G
A

Pressure
relief
device
Outer
jacket

C
Insulation

Transfer pipe

Schema showing the main components of a cryogenic vessel.

Different types of cryogenic

vessels
Cryogenic vessels can be differentiated
either by the type of insulation used or
by type of applications.
Cryogenic vessels used for gases requiring low temperature for liquefaction
are normally vacuum insulated and
composed of an inner pressure vessel

Air

N2

Ne

H2

He

Boiling
Temperature -153 -183 -186 -191 -196 -246 -253 -269
(C)

and an external protective jacket. To

reduce the thermal conductivity of the
space between the inner vessel and the
outer jacket, perlite (powder structure)
or super insulation (wrapping with layers of aluminium film) are used. For
gases such as carbon dioxide or nitrous
dioxide due to the relatively high liquefaction temperature, non vacuum insulated vessels are used. The insulation of
the vessels normally consists in a thick
layer of polyurethane.
Some cryogenic vessels
are used for
the storage of
gases at the
production
site, others at
the end user
site. Storage
vessels used
at the proCryogenic vessel
duction site
are not covered by this article or the
scope of TC 220.
Some other cryogenic vessels are used
for the transportation of gases. The most
common are cryogenic trailers used to
refill the stationary vessels at end user
sites. Large containers are also transported by road, railroad or sea. All these
types of vessels are called Large transportable cryogenic vessels . Some other
small cryogenic vessels (less than 1 000
litres water capacity) are also filled and
transported by companies involved in the
supply of industrial or medical gases to
the end users.
A large number of cryogenic vessels
are being used around the World. Table
2 (overleaf) gives the number of such
vessels by type.

Global harmonization of
cryogenic vessels
Until recently, cryogenic vessels were
subjected to national regulations : it is only
recently that the need for international
harmonization of regulations concerning
cryogenic vessels was deemed necessary.
This harmonization started in early
1990 in Europe with the creation of the
CEN (European Committee for StandISO BULLETIN DECEMBER 2003

19

UNITS
TYPE OF VESSELS

Vacuum insulated

About the author

Non vacuum insulated

Australia

Europe

USA

Australia

Europe

USA

Static vessels

2 000

40 000

50 000

200

20 000

20 000

Small transportable
vessels
(No more than 1000 L)

3 000

100 000 250 000

40

1 000

1 000

Large transportable
vessels

200

5 000

5 000

Number of different types of vessels being used in the world

ardization) TC 268. This happened

during the constitution of the European
Single Market. At that time, it was felt
that the specifics of the cryogenic vessels
(vacuum insulated vessels with double
wall , use of materials and welding
techniques compatible with extremely
low temperature, absence of possibility of making internal inspections,)
made it very difficult to follow general
standards for cryogenic vessels. It was
decided to develop specific standards for
the design, manufacturing and inspection of cryogenic vessels. Specific standards for periodic inspection, accessories
and materials were also developed.
More recently, in 2000, the ISO/TC
220 was created, as the need for worldwide harmonization was recognized by
the industry involved in the construction
and use of such vessels.
The aim of this technical committee
is to help remove technical barriers by
providing the necessary requirements for
the construction and use of such vessels
in International Standards.
The aim is also to increase the economic efficiency in the manufacture
(by creating worldwide market) and use
(by harmonization of good practices) to
the benefit of manufacturers, users and
society at large.
For the technical aspect, it is clear
that design philosophies differ between
countries and these differences must
be recognized and accommodated. Following the European harmonization,

20

ISO BULLETIN DECEMBER 2003

covered by CEN/TC 268 and regulated by

the Europe Pressure Equipment Directives (PED) for stationary vessels and the
TPED/ADR for transportable vessels, two
design philosophies exist :
The North American philosophy,
The European philosophy.
The technology being well developed
and understood, and the application
being similar all over the world, there is
no technical reason apparently to make
the harmonization not possible. Certain
regional practices may need careful
examination to determine if a consensus exists for them to be adopted in an
international standard.
From the beginning, it was agreed that
alternative materials or practices must
be considered with the view of achieving regulatory recognition so that the
standard may actually find worldwide
application.

Work progress transport and

construction of vessels
From Table 3 (ISO/TC 220 work programme), we can see the progress made
by this still young committee.
The less advanced standards in terms
of work progress are the ones covering large and small (< 1 000 L)
transportable cryogenic vessels. These
two sets of standards are due to appear
by the end of 2004. It is expected that
these standards be really implemented

Mr. Herv Barthlmy, who has

worked at Air Liquide (France) for
some 25 years, is Group Fellow,
Air Liquide. He is in charge of
materials, gas cylinders, pressure
vessels and hydrogen activities.
By the nature of gas cylinders,
pressure vessel such as cyrogenic
vessels, he is involved much of his
time in regulatory and standardizing activities, such as the EIGA
(European Industrial Gases Association) and CGA (Compressed
Gas Association). Mr. Barthlmy
is convenor of ISO/TC 220/WG 1,
Cyrogenic vessels, in the field of
gas cylinders. He is Chair of subcommittee SC 2, Cylinder fittings,
of TC 58, Gas cylinders, as well as
of a certain number of working
groups and subcommittees of CEN
in the field of cryogenic vessels
(CEN/TC 268) and gas cylinders
(CEN/TC 23).

worldwide thanks to the UN Model Regulation covering the Transportation of

Dangerous Goods (Class 2).
This will facilitate the transport of
gases between Europe and North America
but also will harmonize the construction
of such vessels all over the world.
The work of the materials standards,
specific to this committee (such as
gas/national compatibility and toughness requirement at low temperature) is

Cryogenic trailers
Small cryogenic vessel
even more advanced, publication being
expected by the beginning of 2004.
The main effort needs now to be placed
on the standards for accessories , where
no real difficulties are foreseen and which
should be published by the end of 2005.
Finally, the main difficulties to
tackle concern the stationary vacuum
insulated cryogenic storage vessel. This
is due to the fact that different design
codes exist (mainly the standards
developed by the CEN/TC 268 widely
used in Europe, under the PED, and in
several other countries, and the ASME
code). The ASME code often uses a more
conservative safety factor than the European code.
There is no worldwide regulation
covering stationary vessels (contrary to
the situation for transportable vessels as
indicated above). Some regional regulations exist like the PED in Europe, but in
some countries like the USA, these types
of vessels are still governed by Federal
Regulations, making the adoption of ISO
standards more difficult.

All efforts will be made

however to produce efficient
ISO standards for stationary
cryogenic vessels before the
end of 2005.

Harmonizing the design,

construction and
use of cryogenic vessels
There is a need for harmonizing the design, construction and use of cryogenic
vessels all over the world. Considerable
progress has been made in this respect
since the creation of ISO/TC 220 in
2000. The full set of published standards
is expected for 2004 (as far as transportable vessels are concerned). For stationary vessels, it might take another year or
more.

Reducing the wall thickness

of the vessels
Modern methods like cold strecking
or use of cold properties are still not
accepted in North America and Japan.
These modern methods of designing
and manufacturing stationary cryogenic vessels considerably reduce the wall
thickness of the vessels. This method of
reducing the price of cryogenic vessels
by limiting the quantity of expensive
materials used (such as stainless steel)
is now widely used in Europe.
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