The following media can cause severe problems at various points in the process due to their physical or chemical properties. Their special characteristics and the resulting risks must therefore be carefully assessed with a view of developing and implementing suitable preventive measures to allow safe, reliable handling of these media.
- Expanding media:
Expanding media such as ethylene oxide, ammonia, methane, propane, butane, etc., significantly change their volume under the influence of temperature changes or chemical reactions (e.g. exothermic reactions). If these are chambered in the dead space of a valve that cannot be relieved, the pressure may rise above the designed nominal pressure (PN), resulting in hazards, leaks, and system failures.
- Polymerizing media:
In the processing and handling of substances prone to polymerization (monomers, resins, polyamides, etc.), it is crucial to keep the dead spaces of valves free of residues, as these can lead to clogging or malfunctions. Additionally, a stable reaction temperature must be maintained to prevent unwanted polymerization.
- Crystallizing media:
In processes where substances crystallize from solutions (salts, silicates, organic molecules, etc.), it is important that the valve design has no dead spaces to prevent adhesions and deposits.
Efficient handling of media
These media require special ball valve designs. The field-proven high-temperature ball valve INTEC K234-S-HT-EO, developed by KLINGER Schöneberg, offers a decisive solution for the safe, efficient handling of expanding, polymerizing, and crystallizing media.
It features a ball valve design with a spring-loaded PEEK-seated ball-seat on one side and free outlet on the other – absolutely cavity-free for unimpeded media flow. This variant prevents media accumulation or residues within the valve, which significantly contributes to preventing process disturbances and ensuring product quality: an advanced ball valve design that is low-maintenance and reduces the need for replacement parts, minimizing operating costs (CAPEX) over the lifetime of the ball valve.
Extended functionality and special versions
The ball valve’s design furthermore allows for special variants and optional accessories:
- The ball and ball seats can be coated with a hard, nickel-based alloy by thermal spraying and subsequent melting. This results in high wear and corrosion resistance across a wide temperature range as well as resistance to abrasion, adhesion, and erosion due to friction, sliding, and jet wear. This is important in applications such as catalyst production, general conveyance of solids (bulk systems), and gaseous and liquid media containing solid contaminants.
- To ensure a permanent spring force and tightness in the port, the spring room of the ball seat can be sealed (FM design). Depending on the application, the pressure of the upstream side can also be used to support the spring force (FMD design).
- To remove adhesions during operation, especially on the ball and ball seat, an integrated ring flush line can be attached at the connecting flange on the cap side. This allows the inevitable media adhesions and the negative impact on the actuation torque to be eliminated.
- The use of a heating jacket can ensure precise temperature control in the process to prevent unwanted reactions that lead to polymerization or crystallization.
- Special materials such as Duplex, Super Duplex, Hastelloy B2/C4/C276, Titanium, Zirconium, Monel, Nickel, etc. are available.
Efficient process control
Dead-space-free ball valves play an important role in managing the challenges of handling demanding media in the chemical and process industries. The unique construction and functionality qualify these ball valves as an essential component for the safe and efficient execution of process operations.
