Compressed Gas Cylinder Sizes Differ For The US And Europe

Compressed gas cylinders - defined as tanks used to store a variety of gasses under extreme pressure - come in a range of compressed gas cylinder sizes. The sizes are not uniform world-wide and different industry standards are observed for compressed gas cylinder sizes in the US and Europe. Compressed air cylinder sizes will also be determined by the gas it holds.

Compressed Gas Cylinder Sizes

The compressed gases stored in these cylinders are considered to be dangerous when mishandled, due to the extremely high pressures that they are stored under. In order to easily store and transport these sometimes hazardous gases, cylinders are utilized and there are a variety of compressed gas cylinder sizes or compressed gas tank sizes, to suit the range of industrial applications that require varied gases like nitrogen and oxygen. Consulting a gas cylinder size chart is very important. Use and storage of any compressed gas under high pressure (2000 psi/138 bar and higher) can be extremely dangerous if proper gas handling procedures are not observed. Moreover, chemical characteristics of specialty gases themselves can pose serious health hazards if containment is not tightly controlled.

Sizes That Vary

Compressed gas cylinder sizes vary from the US to Europe and it is therefore impossible to claim a world-wide industry standard. In a cylinder size chart, European standard cylinder sizes are listed. These could apply to a variety of gases, including:

  • Compressed nitrogen cylinder sizes

  • Oxygen cylinder sizes: EEC Specification Cylinders Used for Speciality Gases

It is important to familiarize yourself with these different specifications, to avoid any unnecessary accidents.

Oxygen Cylinder Sizes

for example vary from a large steel oxygen cylinder through to a tiny cylinder that can be held in the palm of your hand. In order to allow for a visual example of how much gas can be stored in a cylinder, we will take for an example a generic M-6 cylinder that has tank sizes that can be compared to a litre cool drink bottle. The '1 litre bottle' oxygen cylinders capacity is up to 164 litres of oxygen. That is 164 litres of oxygen that can be shoved and compressed into a bottle that is no larger than an average bottle of milk. It would be wise consult an oxygen tank sizes chart or oxygen cylinder size chart. The answer to how this is even possible is the application of increased pressure to the oxygen. The first litre of oxygen that is decanted into the cylinder needs only 15 psi of pressure, an amount just slightly more than the atmospheric pressure around the cylinder. Each litre to follow needs a little more pressure until finally, the last litre enters the cylinder under pressure of about 2,000 psi.

Gas Cylinder Storage

Oxygen is rarely held at pressures higher than 200 bar / 3000 psi due to the risks of fire triggered by high temperatures caused by adiabatic heating when the gas changes pressure when moving from one vessel to another. Gas cylinder storage plays an important part in avoiding unnecessary compressed gas accidents.

Remember to do some research on compressed gas cylinder sizes before you get into the industry. There are many websites that supply the different size charts for free.