The H-Flex Steam Liner is an enhanced version of our E-Flex tank that contains an integrated heating system to allow for fast heating of liquids for discharge. With our state of the art heating system, the loading and unloading processes are sped up 20 times compared to any other flexitank.
H-Flex Steam Liner is the highest capacity flexitank on the market. 27,000lt capacity allows for about 12% savings on overall freight costs thanks to the increased payload size. You can load palm oils, stearin, olein, fish oil and used cooking oil, making use of our high capacity flexitank.
Liquids such as palm oil, coconut oil, syrups, glucose, and fructose have low melting points and solidify very quickly. The flexitank industry uses “serpentine” solutions that use hoses to circulate heat to liquefy these edible oils. However, this method is ineffective because it consumes an immense amount of energy and takes too long to heat liquids.
Thermal technology adapts the principals of hydrothermal vents to flexitanks. It uses a hybrid system that combines a steam liner, elevating grid, and steam distributor.
What is H-Flex Steam Liner?
Patented by LiquA, H-Flex Steam Liner is the first and only, flexitank total heating system in the industry. The old heater pad technology is left behind with this revolutionary method.
H-Flex Steam Liner is a chamber to preserve and circulate steam all around the flexitank, bottom, center and top.
Working principle
The H-FlexSteam Liner 3.0 isolates the flexitank from the floor and side walls of the container. Steam directly transmits heat to the cargo from all directions, rather than just bottom of the tank like a conventional heating pad.
Once the energy in the steam has been transferred, the steam condenses into normal cold water, which can be easily drained and disposed of.
Up to 4 bars, 130 °C steam is to be applied into the Steam Bag. The steam is circulated all around the flexitank surface and heats the cargo with high transmission rate. Eventually steam condenses to cold water by transmitting its whole heat/energy to the cargo. 130°C steam condenses to 20°C water. To increase efficiency, the cold water is being discharged during the heating process.
In a nut shell; Steam is being well distributed all over the total surface of the flexitank. Bottom, top and the core. Steam not only heats the cargo but also insulates it from the metal side walls of the container, which is the main cause of the energy loss. This feature increases the heating performance and shortens the heating operation.
Plastic Grids inside the Steam Bag elevate the flexitank to generate a gap/tunnel underneath the flexitank for efficient steam distribution. The Steam is distributed through the grid tunnels directly to the critical points.
Features and advantages…
Advanced technology steam heating at the final destination, up to 20 times faster compared to conventional heating pads.
Direct and efficient heat transmission to the entire cargo. Steam circulation all around, bottom, center & top surface of the flexitank.
Patented heat transmission method providing faster melting. §Faster discharge lowering demurrage costs.
Case Study
The H-Flex Steam Liner 3.0 and a conventional flexitank containing the same product (palm stearin) were heated side by side.
The H-Flex Steam Liner 3.0 all the product fully heated & was completely discharged in 18 hours.
The conventional flexitank with heating pad fully heated & discharged in 14 days.
Heat and Discharge…
Introduce steam to the H-Flex Steam Liner at the final destination and when the cargo liquefies, discharge as a regular flexitank.
The main design principle of H-Flex Steam Liner is to apply maximum amount of steam in to the liner. Some clients may have low pressure steam; however, can introduce two steam hoses at the same time. H-Flex Steam Liner has two steam hose connections.
Flexitank LiquA 