Introduction

In the majority of glass plant installations, vessels find universal application as reactors, reboilers, receivers and separators as well as for storage, feed or measuring. This section of the catalogue describes a wide range of both glass and non-glass vessels together with the items which are normally used in conjunction with them such as vessel covers and stirrers.

Standard glass vessels are available in two basic forms: spherical (available up to 200 litres in capacity) and cylindrical (available up to 200 litres in capacity). Large spherical vessels are not available but cylindrical vessels with higher capacity than 200 litres can be supplied to special orders.

All glass vessels have standard flat buttress end connections. Further details of these are provided in section Technical Information.

When spherical vessels are used as reactors or reboilers, the top branch in generally used for the column or stirrer. The side branches on standard vessels are generally DN 25, DN 40 or DN 100; DN 25 and DN 40 being at 10° to the vertical (45° on type VSU) and DN 100 being at 45°. The only exception to this are type VSD spherical vessels which have DN 50, DN 80 and DN 150 side branches at 90° to the vertical and are used mainly in boiler circulatory systems. The smaller branches are normally used for such components as thermometer pockets, resistance thermometer and feed pipes. The DN 100 branches are normally used for charging solids or for the connection of vapour pipes when the top branch is used for a stirrer.

In application where temperature control is necessary, heating bath and mantles are available and detailed in this section. In addition, some glass vessels are available with jacket for close temperature control. If spherical or cylindrical vessels are used in conjunction with a heating mantle or bath, a longer bottom outlet is required and should be specified when ordering. The VSL spherical vessels are specifically designed for this purpose.

The majority of vessels have DN 40 bottom outlet. For application where it is necessary to avoid the build-up of solids in this outlet, the vessel can be fitted with a bottom outlet valve. (See section – Valves & Filters). This should be specified when ordering. The type RFC valve is an ideal alternative for vessels, which do not have a sealed-in valve seat.

By combining vessels with stirrers and stirrer drives, an extremely wide range of agitated reaction equipment options is possible. This fact is enhanced by the inclusion of  PTFE Stirrers as well as their glass counterparts, thus allowing further options to be considered in the process design. Vessel/stirrer compatibility tables are detailed in individual stirrer description.

Both spherical & cylindrical vessels can be supplied with graduations to special order. Standard graduated cylindrical vessels are shown in this section.

For standard flat buttress end connections from DN25 to DN150, it is possible to achieve a 3° deflection in the joint by using a flexible gasket. Details of these and all other couplings and gasket can be found in section Couplings.

Unless otherwise stated, all dimensions are given in mm. All vessel capacities are given in liters.

For permissible operating conditions, unless otherwise stated in the individual description,  please see section Technical Information.

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Spherical Vessels

Nominal Capacity	Liters	5	10	20	50	100	200
Bulb Diameter	mm	220	290	370	510	610	760
Top neck (DN)	mm	40	40	80	100	150	225
Maximum Internal Pressure gauge	bars	1	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.2

Note: Although spherical vessels of 5 and 10 liters capacity can generally be supported by their top neck all other spherical vessels should be supported from below in a heating or cooling bath, heating mantle or using one of the vessel supports listed on these pages.

They can be used under full vacuum. The table above shows the maximum working pressure which we recommend for each size.

Spherical Vessel			Dimensions of branches and bottom outlets			Dimensions of bottom outlets for       BAS                    BAL
Nominal Capacity (L)	d	d1	DN1	L1	L2	L2	L2
5	220	268	25	60	-	-	-
10	290	315	40	65	150	110	190
20	370	400	50	75	-	-	-
50	510	610	80	85	-	-	-
100	610	-	100	110	-	-	-
200	760	-	150	125	-	-	-
			225	180	-	-	-

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 Spherical Vessels - Type D

Nominal and working capacities are in liters.

These vessels are commonly used in circulatory boiler systems. Vessels with additional necks can be supplied on special order. Typically, a neck at DN3 is used for charging the vessel while an additional neck on the equator is used in systems requiring more than one boiler.

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Spherical Vessels - Type U

Nominal and working capacities are in litres.
They replace the former type M but do not have the sealed-in re-entrant tube.

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Spherical Vessels - Type P  

Nominal and working capacities are in litres.

These are the most widely used spherical vessels and are employed, for example, as receivers, storage and distillation vessels.

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Spherical Vessel - Type L