For a long time,aluminum tanker trailers became the gold standard when it came to transporting liquids and other sensitive contents long-distance. You may be curious to know why and what it means for your line of work. Do you stick with tried-and-true carbon steel or trade up to the newer aluminum options?

Compared to carbon steel tankers, aluminum tanker trailers are lighter, reducing fuel consumption and tire wear during transportation, thereby reducing daily operation and maintenance costs. Aluminum alloys are highly corrosion resistant and improve the service life of tankers.

However, aluminum tanker trailers have lower strength than steel tankers. Again, they are slightly more expensive due to the sophisticated manufacturing processes.

1. About aluminum tanker trailer

Aluminum tanker trailer is one kind of tanker semi trailer but the material is aluminum. Strong, light, efficient, and beautiful.

BAPUTI aluminum tanker trailer is divided into different oil products, chemicals, food, liquid food truck, chemical liquid truck, insulation liquid vehicles, dangerous goods transport vehicles, the asphalt transportation vehicle.

2. What is a tanker trailer used for? What liquid can be transported by an aluminum tanker trailer?

Aluminum tanker trailer is used primarily for Fuel, Diesel, Jet A1, Oil, and Crude Oil transportation which companies want less weight of tanker trailers. An aluminum tanker trailer mainly transports oil, alcohol, lipids, etc.

3. Advantages of aluminum tanker trailers over carbon steel tankers

Advantage 1:

The aluminum tanker trailer is lighter and more economical. Aluminum alloy is less dense and more delicate than similar steel tanks by more than 4 tons and 20% more than steel tankers. Since aluminum tanker is lighter than carbon steel tanker, it reduces fuel consumption. It wears and tears on tires during transportation, thus reducing daily operating costs and maintenance costs. The payload is increased by reducing the dead weight of the vehicle.

Advantage 2:

The aluminum tanker trailer is corrosion-resistant and improves service life. Aluminum alloy is compatible with most chemical media and foods such as acetone, benzene, gasoline and diesel, kerosene, glacial acetic acid, etc. The transportation range is more comprehensive than the cross. The typical service life of an aluminum alloy tanker can reach 15-20 years. According to decades of experience with sales customers in the global market, the average service life of an aluminum alloy tanker is about ten years.

Advantage 3:

The aluminum tanker trailer has good elasticity, which improves safety and eliminates hidden dangers. The tank body is made of aluminum alloy profile, with good elasticity and high strength. Ordinary tankers have poor flexibility and are prone to an explosion in an extremely cold or hot environment while using aluminum alloy tanks dramatically improves safety.

Advantage 4:

The aluminum tanker trailer has recyclability and a high recovery rate. Aluminum has a very high recycling value. A tank is made of 5 tons of finished aluminum; when the tanker is scrapped, according to the current price of aluminum in the international market, the tanker's recycling value is more than 10,000 US dollars.

Advantage 5:

Aluminum tanker trailers are more environmentally friendly. The light weight of aluminum alloy tanker means lower fuel consumption and emission of the car.

Advantage 6:

Aluminum tanker trailers have good electrical conductivity. Aluminum alloy effectively reduces the gathering of static electricity on the tank. When a collision or tipping occurs, no spark will be generated, eliminating the hidden danger of fire or explosion.

You must consider the end use of the trailer and your budget when choosing between the two materials. Steel may be your best choice if you need a high-capacity fuel tank trailer at a low cost.

The fact that aluminum is lighter and lower in strength than steel does not mean that aluminum trailers are weak. The trailers have enough loading capacity to transport fuel or oil in bulk.

4. Aluminum Fuel Tanker Trailer specs, capacity, dimension

BAPUTI offers tanker trailers with heavy-duty construction options, several suspension options, tank material options, trailer size options, and several layout options. We can build a fully customizable tanker trailer of the highest standards to exceed your expectations.

• Can be constructed for refined fuel, petrol, water, palm oil, etc

• Tanker sizes range from small to large, depending on your hauling needs and product weight

• Available in carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, carbon steel lined, all plastic, pure aluminum

• Numerous different suspension( spring suspension or air suspension) and tank options(circle, oval or rectangular) are available

• Multiple compartments(two, three, four, or more compartments) and compartment sizes are available

• Several customizable tank and appearance options are available

• Volumes are between 20.000 Litres to 65.000 Lt. with different compartments quantity and 2-5 axles

5. Specification of the main three aluminum sheets for tanker trailer

Aluminum tanker trailers often use aluminum alloys such as 5083 aluminum plate, 5454 aluminum plate, and 5182 aluminum plate.

(1)aluminum tanker trailer, 5083 aluminum alloy plate

5083 aluminum alloy plate is the more widely used aluminum tanker trailer in China. The main element is magnesium, with good welding properties, corrosion resistance, and processing properties, medium strength, used in the manufacture of liquid tankers such as oil tankers.

(2)aluminum tanker trailer,5182 aluminum alloy plate

5182 aluminum alloy plate is the latest high magnesium alloy tanker born in recent years specifically for the European road hazardous materials transportation agreement. It has relatively high values of tensile strength and elongation and using 5182 aluminum alloy welding, the mechanical properties in the weld seam can reach the minimum value specified for the parent material. 5182 alloy plate's excellent quality improves the safety of aluminum alloy tankers.

(3)aluminum tanker trailer, 5454 aluminum alloy plate

5454 aluminum alloy plate is suitable for aluminum-magnesium alloy tankers used under high-temperature conditions and has high corrosion resistance. This is the main aluminum alloy plate recommended by BAPUTI.

6. Structure and components of aluminum tanker trailer

(1)Tank body, heads, and cylinder

Tank trailers have different shapes including circle, oval, and rectangular shapes. Their height of gravity ratio is 1:0.79:0.65. The body of a tank trailer consists of the heads and cylinder. The cylinder is manufactured by coiling and welding plates. One-time package tank molding process: reduce weld seams, high strength, smooth appearance, stable performance of the whole vehicle.

1)The following is the tank processing technology of the aluminum tanker trailer.

Adopt 17m high-speed CNC laser processing, to ensure that the accuracy of each plate is in line with the design requirements.

Large TIG plate automatic welding machine, single-sided welding double-sided forming, to ensure that the weld seam welding molding is beautiful; 100% flaw detection rate

CNC plate rolling machine, high precision, fast forming, so that the curvature of the tank body meets the design requirements.

Simplified ring seam adopts domestic advanced TIG automatic welding, which is beautiful to shape.

A simplified weld seam is qualified by X-ray inspection, and then tested by special air pressure and water pressure tooling to ensure the quality of the weld seam.

The tank grouping adopts the same arc positioning tooling so that the anti-surge plate and the simplified body fit perfectly.

2)Here are a few reasons why tankers are shaped like cylinders:

Large fuel tankers have oval and round rectangular shapes because of the need for stability. The low center of gravity in this shape keeps the trailer stable. High-pressure tanks, on the other hand, are built in a circle shape.

Cylindrical tanks can disperse the pressure of the liquid on the tank wall, which is conducive to reducing wall thickness and material weight.

In terms of driving safety, the center of gravity is lower, which is conducive to improving the balance of the vehicle in the process of driving.

There is an anti-wave bulkhead inside the tank to prevent the liquid from shaking back and forth during the driving process to affect the vehicle's balance.

Easier to extract and clean: The rounded sides of the cylindrical tanker make it easier to extract, as the liquid can move to a lower point.

3)Oil Baffle Plate

The purpose of the anti-wave plate is to reduce the fluctuations and impact of the liquid inside the tank and improve the stability of the tanker truck driving. When the viscosity of the medium transported by the tanker is small, and the filling volume is between 20% and 80%, the internal tank must be equipped with an anti-wave plate.

The volume between the two anti-wave plates is not greater than 7.5m3, or the spacing is not greater than 1750mm, the effective area of the anti-wave plate should be greater than 40% of the cross-sectional area of the tank, the upper ventilation area of the anti-wave plate is less than 20% of the tank cross-sectional area.

The tanker anti-wave plate should also consider the convenience of operation or maintenance personnel passing through when designing. Anti-wave plates can be directly welded inside the tank, but also can be made into dismantling types.

At the same time, the tanker's bulkhead and wave plate can also be considered as tank reinforcement parts, when the wave plate is a reinforcement part, its thickness should not be less than the tank wall thickness, the effective area of the wave plate is at least 70% of the cross-sectional area of the tank.

4)The following is the processing technology of the waterproof plate and head of the aluminum tanker trailer.

Adopt integral head and wave-proof plate, with good impact resistance.

Adopt automatic water pressure rising type, rising height higher than the same industry level, strength greatly increased.

Adopt one-time automatic punching and flanging processes to improve product quality and efficiency.

(2) Manhole Cover, Breather Valve, and Spill-proof sensor

The upper part of the tank is equipped with a manhole and breathing valve, which can be used for top filling and ventilating when discharging material.

The manhole can also be used for the operator to enter the tank for maintenance and cleaning.

The breathing valve can keep the pressure balance inside and outside the tank to prevent the pressure inside the tank from being too high or too low, which may damage the tank. The relief valve protects the tank and reduces the volatilization loss of volatile oil.

The breathing valve has the function of overflow prevention, side-turning prevention, and fire stopping, and the side-turning of the tank will not cause medium leakage.

Spill-Proof Sensor

The spill-proof sensor is the alarm installed on the manhole cover. The sensor produces a sound whenever the height of the liquid inside the tank changes quickly.

Oil vapor recovery valve

The oil gas from volatile can be recovered to the oil tank, which prevents leakage of the oil gas. Other oil gas recovery devices are used to condense and reuse the oil gas.

(3)Piping System

The piping system is located at the bottom of the tank and consists of pipes, valves, and quick-change joints. According to the user's demand, it can realize various functions. When discharging, the valve is opened and the liquid is discharged through the discharge hose.

Emergency cut-off bottom valve (Bottom valve): When the discharge pipeline is hit, the emergency cut-off valve can be disconnected from the shear tank to prevent a large amount of leakage of the medium in the tank.

Oil vapor recovery valve, which can recover all the oil and gas generated by oil volatilization during loading and unloading to the tank in the storage area, preventing the leakage of oil and gas, and condensing and reusing the oil and gas through other oil and gas recovery devices.

A fuel outlet valve, installed under the side of the tanker, is used for quick oil unloading. The front-end interface conforms to the American API standard for easy connection to the oil discharge hose. The internal structure is designed by fluid mechanics to minimize internal pressure at a high flow rate. The outlet adopts a flat bottom structure, so there is no oil leakage when the joint is disassembled, which is safe and reliable. The quick oil discharge hose connector is designed with an inclined 70 degrees, which is convenient for hose connection and effectively improves the service life of the hose.

(4)Suspension System

Steel plate spring suspension and air suspension are optional according to the needs, usually, carbon steel and stainless steel semi-trailers are equipped with tandem steel plate spring suspension, and aluminum tanker trailers are equipped with air suspension.

7. Inspection completed before the sale of the aluminum tanker trailer

From mechanical performance testing of raw materials to welding X-ray film testing, helium leak pickup, water pressure testing, air pressure testing, static conductivity testing, braking performance testing, and other testing, all indicators need to be perfect.

Aluminum tanker's aluminum quality, welding process, and product performance must undergo strict quality testing. The following are some of the tests performed on BAPUTI tankers.

Appearance quality:

weld seam forming, the amount of misalignment of joints, the angle of joints, etc.

Dimensions:

straightness of tank surface, size of manhole cover, size of the escalator, outline size of the whole vehicle, outline size of the tank, ground clearance size of lifting legs, etc.

Structure:

head type, tank cross-section form, welding seam arrangement, wave guard and bulkhead, tank top rail, etc.

Grounding resistance:

the conductive drag strip, resistance value, etc.

Water test:

after the tank is full of water, check the welded joints for leaks, etc.

Hydraulic test:

the whole process of hydraulic test, no leakage, no deformation, no abnormal sound, etc.

Air tightness test:

all welded joints and connection parts are inspected to pass without leakage, etc.

Hose air pressure test:

the test pressure is 4 times the highest working pressure of the loading and unloading system tank design pressure, with no leakage, etc. Non-destructive testing: tank butt welding joints for radiographic testing, etc.

Safety accessories:

breathing valves, fire extinguishers, loading and unloading port settings, loading and unloading valves, emergency shut-off devices, etc.

Another testing, etc.