A fuel tank is a safe container for flammable fluids, often gasoline or diesel fuel. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled or released into an engine. Fuel tanks range in size and complexity from the small plastic tank of a butane lighter to the multi-chambered cryogenic Space Shuttle external tank.
The fuel tanks for B-25 bombers
Fill caps on a BMW automobile for hydrogen (left) and for gasoline (right) fuel tanks
Fuel tank for the Apollo Lunar Module, 1960s
Metal fuel tank for a 1996 Opel Blazer
Storage tanks are containers that hold liquids or compressed gases. The term can be used for reservoirs, and for manufactured containers. The usage of the word "tank" for reservoirs is uncommon in American English but is moderately common in British English. In other countries, the term tends to refer only to artificial containers. In the U.S., storage tanks operate under no pressure, distinguishing them from pressure vessels.
Cylindrical fuel storage tank with fixed roof and internal floating roof. Capacity approx 2,000,000 litres
Horizontal, cylindrical shell, elliptical heads carbon steel pressure vessel
View of Fawley Refinery large atmospheric tanks
Spherical gas tank farm in the petroleum refinery in Karlsruhe MiRO