Combined-cycle power plants pair gas turbines with a steam turbine to achieve roughly 60% overall efficiency, placing them among the most efficient large-scale generation technologies available today. Those gains depend entirely on precise fuel gas conditioning.
Storage tanks may look static, but pressure inside them is constantly changing. Filling, emptying, solar heating, rain cooling, vapor generation, inert gas supply, and connected recovery systems can all affect the pressure in the vapor space above the liquid. If those pressure changes are not managed, a tank can exceed its maximum allowable working pressure or fall below its maximum allowable working vacuum.
In high-pressure, high-temperature service, small deviations in valve performance translate into measurable efficiency losses and safety risk. Code-compliant selection, proven design features, and factory-verified testing help operators avoid unplanned outages, extend maintenance intervals, and protect critical assets.
Control valves sit at the center of slurry density, cyanide dosing, and recycled water duties, where small controllability problems compound directly into lost ounces. Treating those valves as commodity components rather than performance assets has become an increasingly expensive habit.
HRSG valve applications span an unusually wide range of operating conditions. During startup, a feedwater valve may see the full discharge pressure of the boiler feed pump against an empty, atmospheric-pressure drum, creating severe cavitation potential.
Control valves sit at the point where process decisions become physical actions. Better data from the valve, delivered to the right person in the right place, shortens the path from detection to response.
Evangéline Cousot’s World Pipelines article, “Pipelines under pressure,” explains how smart technology and integrated biomethane injection stations support sustainability improvement initiatives for distribution system operators (DSOs).
An undersized valve cannot pass the required flow, and the correct selection depends on more than the published flow coefficient. Pipe reducers, choked flow conditions, and the interaction between pressure drop and vaporization all influence the result.
The rapid growth of LNG & FLNG projects introduces valve procurement and execution complexity that traditional approaches were not designed to handle, and project teams that fail to adapt early risk schedule slips, rework, and startup delays.
Copper is undergoing a quiet but profound redefinition. Long viewed primarily as an industrial commodity, it is now rising to the level of critical infrastructure, essential to the digital, electric, and energy systems shaping the next decade.
Poorly specified or undersized valves in critical services can cause unplanned shutdowns, fugitive emissions, and safety incidents, so getting valve selection right at the front end of a project and revisiting it whenever process conditions change are among the highest-leverage actions an operator or engineering contractor can take.
In terms of control performance, sealing life, and cost, quarter turn valves incorporating soft, non-metallic components have been the gold standard for decades. Unfortunately, these soft seals have a somewhat limited ceiling for temperature and are easily damaged...
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This blog features expert perspectives from Emerson's automation professionals on industry trends, technologies, and best practices. The information shared here is intended to inform and educate our global community of users and partners.