Used Tanks & Kettles

The spec that decides everything else is the rating. An open-top mix tank is a shell, a bottom, and a drain, and it costs what sheet metal costs. A vessel rated for internal pressure and full vacuum is a code item, built to a drawing, registered, and stamped. Buyers who skip that line end up with a tank they cannot pull vacuum on, and the fix is a new vessel rather than a modification.

Heating and cooling come from the jacket. A conventional jacket is an outer shell welded over the lower head. A dimple jacket presses a pattern into a thin outer sheet, which raises velocity and suits chilled water and glycol. A half-pipe coil is welded on in a spiral and takes higher jacket pressure. Jacket ratings here range from 15 to 170 psi, and internal ratings range from 5 to 300 psi. Many vessels carry both an internal pressure rating and full vacuum, which is what lets a kettle boil off solvent under reduced pressure at a lower product temperature.

Agitation is the other dividing line. Anchor and sweep agitators scrape the wall and move viscous product that a turbine would simply spin a hole in. Turbine and propeller drives handle thin liquids. Multi-motion designs run two or three agitators on separate shafts at separate speeds, typically an outer anchor turning slowly against an inner high-speed disperser or emulsifier. Agitator drives in this category range from 0.25 to 30 HP.

Design families recur here, and buyers search by them. We handle Lee Industries twin motion, double motion, and triple motion kettles, including Tri-Mix and Turbo Shear models, Groen kettles, including twin motion models, Walker twin motion processor kettles and API 650 storage tanks, Pfaudler glass-lined Chemstore receivers, and Sartorius and Stedim Palletank vessels. Receiver tanks, mix tanks, storage tanks, and jacketed kettles all sit in this category, so filter on the configuration rather than the word. To see one material, filter for stainless steel tanks or carbon steel tanks.

Applications & Industries

• Chemical processing: batch reaction holding, solvent storage, and intermediate receivers. Glass-lined and Hastelloy vessels handle acids and chlorides that attack stainless steel.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing: compounding, holding, and transfer between unit operations, on 316L stainless steel with sanitary fittings and polished interiors.
• Liquid dosage production: syrups, suspensions, and solutions mixed under vacuum to pull entrained air out of the batch before filling.
• Semi-solid dosage production: creams, ointments, and gels, where a scraped-wall anchor and an inner emulsifier run together in a multi-motion kettle.
• Food and beverage: cooking, blending, and cooling kettles, plus jacketed batch tanks for sauces, dressings, and dairy.
• Biotechnology: media and buffer preparation and hold tanks feeding fermentation and downstream purification.
• Cosmetics and personal care: lotions, shampoos, and emulsions, which need the same vacuum and multi-motion agitation as pharmaceutical semi-solids.

Specifications & Configurations

Design variants. Open-top mix tanks, closed jacketed batch tanks, receiver tanks, agitated receivers, storage tanks, single-motion kettles, twin- and triple-motion kettles, vacuum kettles, portable and skid-mounted tanks, and glass-lined receivers.

Common options. Conventional, dimple, and half-pipe jackets; anchor, sweep, turbine, and propeller agitators; center-top and side-entry drives; inline emulsifiers and homogenizers; variable-speed drives; load cells; baffles; sanitary fittings and polished interiors; tilt frames; legs, stands, and casters.

Why Buy Used

A new code-stamped process vessel is a build-to-order item, with lead times measured in months once the rating, the jacket style, the finish, and the agitator package are specified. A used vessel of the same volume and rating typically costs a fraction of the new price, and it can ship in weeks rather than quarters.

Tanks age well. The shell is the asset, and a 316L shell that has held clean product has decades of service left in it. Gaskets, seals, mechanical seals, and drive components are consumables and are replaceable. Agitators and drives can be swapped or repitched, and a jacket can be tested. That is why the used market for process vessels is deep and why buying used is routine rather than a compromise.

Every vessel is inspected when it arrives at our Cleveland, OH facility, and it is available for customer inspection before purchase. Refurbishment and testing can be arranged upon request. Process validation for your own material and facility remains with the buyer.

Related Equipment

• Used Reactors
• Used Agitators
• Used Fermenters & Bioreactors
• Used Bins, IBCs & Totes
• Used Industrial Mixers & Blenders