Largest gas capacity aluminium cylinders?

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I'd suggest you specifically look for medical or sampling cylinders,
And a whole different world of COPV aluminum tanks that come in huge sizes.
 
I guess its easier if you define your purpose your minimum size/capacity etc.

For example Pure Air Atmospheric Air Sampling Compressors use a Luxfer 20 litre 200 bar Aluminium cylinders. Each at 4000 litre (140 cubic feet) Free air capacity.

The photo is the 20 litre size. It's a Luxfer UK England cylinder to UK/EU specs. Just a tad too tall to fit under the bench but light enough to lift.
Minimum capacity is 3200 litres. So something like a 15 litre 232 bar cylinder would work. They are required for bailout cylinders for a project that is going to the same depth doing the same dive profile day after day after day.

Those 20 litre 200 bar cylinders would have the gas capacity needed, but they might be a bit taller/long than what we are looking for.
 
These folks claim to have 15 and 20L 200bar Al tanks. 4000L = 141 cubic feet

Cheers - they at least have a good range of cylinders.
 
I'm not sure a VIP is an issue.

The OP didn't specify where these were to be used or what they were to be used for, but presumably not in the US and perhaps not mounted to a diver.
Not in the U.S. and not in a country where cylinders are highly regulated.
 
The time a tank explodes is mostly when it is being filled, not when it is strapped to a diver's back. I wouldn't get anywhere close to a Chinese tank, especially if it doesn't have the European and US licenses/certifications.

We recently started to see these "cheap" Chinese-made AL 20L tanks here in Libya. No EU, UK, or US certifications.
What is the diving like in Libya?
 
As I assume you are not looking for a SCUBA cylinder for that project, you have a lot of choice.

The largest from Luxfer would be the L930A at 88.8L water volume and 345bar service pressure. Catalina's M265 comes in at 46.4L water volume at 153bar.

I'd suggest you specifically look for medical or sampling cylinders, I'm sure you find something that suits your needs exactly.
It seems that anything above a 200 bar fill pressure are carbon fibre cylinders, however the 20L x 200 bar model here might be able to be made to work -
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Given that these are European cylinders designed for SCBA use I would think that DIN valves that SCBA and Scuba use would be readily available - does anyone know if DIN valves are available for that 25E thread code?

Would there be much difference in aluminium cylinders made for SCBA use and those made for Scuba use?
 
Given that these are European cylinders designed for SCBA use I would think that DIN valves that SCBA and Scuba use would be readily available - does anyone know if DIN valves are available for that 25E thread code?
 
Minimum capacity is 3200 litres. So something like a 15 litre 232 bar cylinder would work. They are required for bailout cylinders for a project that is going to the same depth doing the same dive profile day after day after day.

Those 20 litre 200 bar cylinders would have the gas capacity needed, but they might be a bit taller/long than what we are looking for.
I've carried both 18l and 20l as stage bottles on cave dives and they are surprisingly not unpleasant. But a. I was carrying them for about a 30-40min where they were being dropped deeper in the cave and anything is tolerable over short distances, and b. they were steel. Large aluminium bottles that I've used have all been very fat and very awkward to use. Luxfer used to sell 10 & 12.2 litre/232 cylinders in the UK before S80's were widely available. I have a few of these I bought as deco bottles in the 90's and they are truly **** to dive with. It's like having a dustbin strapped to your side. I really would not fancy going much bigger than an ally 12 unless I was scootering it to somewhere it was getting dropped or it was getting hung off a deco station. They really are the most unpleasant, pointless cylinders I've ever used. I vaguely remember the buoyancy swing being horrendous too (it's been so long since I've used them as anything other than a dil bank). I would far rather try to find the least bad steel stage bottle I could just for the size advantage. Or accept the penalty of multiple S80's.
 

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