At the Emerson Exchange Americas virtual series, Emerson’s Bryan Hodges, Jeff Gremillion and Luigi Bellan shared their expertise with ways to ensure safety in isolation valves used in cryogenic applications. Here is their presentation abstract:
Join our isolation valve experts in this Meet The Experts session for a live discussion on the latest cryogenic isolation valve technology and how these modern designs can improve safety for your personnel, the environment and your facility. Find out how triple offset valves and double offset C-ball valves are increasingly being adopted in facilities along the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) value chain in response to a need for improved safety, lower fugitive emissions, higher system reliability and simplified maintenance.
Jeff opened by describing the cryogenic market which has been rapidly growing especially here in the U.S. as LNG plants have been built to export LNG globally. It’s expected to continue growing at 3.6% per year through 2035. More than $400B capital spending globally will be required to support this growth across the LNG value chain.
Typical applications include hydrogen, LNG, Olefins, Oxygen, Cryogenic gases and LPG export terminals. Safety is a huge concern for cryogenic valve applications:
For cryogenic applications, NFPA 59A specifies the need to minimize threaded and flanged valve joins. Using butt weld valves eliminates this source of potential leaks. EPA Method 21, TA Luft, ISO 15848-1 and Shell MESC TAT regulate fugitive emissions. Using quarter turn live-loaded packing is a proactive step to limit these fugitive emissions from these valves.
For valve cavity release, gate, floating ball and trunnion ball valves all must address this cavity relief. This cavity relief will often render the valve unidirectional. This unidirectional nature of the cavity relief will often lead to installation errors. Select quarter-turn valves with certified packing arrangements that meet EPA Method 21 and TAT.
From a maintenance perspective, most of the damage to cryogenic valves before or during commission phase of the project leading to numerous repairs. Repairs prior to commissioning put personnel in jeopardy. Small buttweld valves are difficult to get tools and hands into the repair area and large buttweld side entry valves’ repair components are too heavy.
Emerson’s Vanessa Triple-Offset and AEV Double Eccentric C-ball Butt Weld, Top Entry Valves have revolutionized cryogenic valve repair capability. These valves help to solve maintenance, flange and emission concerns.
Visit the Gas Processing & LNG and Isolation & Shutoff Valves sections on Emerson.com for more on the valves and other key technologies to help drive safer more reliable cryogenic applications.
