Although the range of valve products involved in the development and transportation of oil and natural gas has remained largely unchanged for a century, valve manufacturers have been constantly updating valve technology and actively responding to changes in the oil and natural gas industry market. If you want to stay ahead or not be left behind in the market, valve manufacturers need to constantly update the technology and process of valve design, manufacturing, service, and sales. The fact is that oil companies are increasingly demanding valve manufacturers: on the basis of providing reasonable prices, advanced valve manufacturers must be adept at solving the problems faced by oil companies, extending the performance of valve products and providing more service capabilities in harsher working environments and stricter environmental requirements.
(1) Metal sealing
The demand for oil and natural gas in the world market is rapidly increasing, and the development of crude oil has also spread to every corner of the earth. The extraction of crude oil has put forward new requirements for equipment. For example, ultra deep well technology poses challenges to equipment such as ultra-low temperature and ultra-high pressure. The extraction of ultra-heavy crude oil is a profitable option, especially when the crude oil reaches $30 per barrel. Nowadays, high concentrations of asphaltene and other impurities have caused difficulties in the transportation and processing of crude oil. Generally, the soft seal ball valve used in Oil pipeline cannot meet the requirements of working conditions, which requires valve manufacturers to develop metal seal ball valves and adapt to changes in temperature and pressure, and even ensure absolute sealing when transporting solid media (hydroxide, coke, etc.). The metal sealing technology benefits from the development of surface spraying technology. Valve manufacturers hope to use this technology to maintain a leading position in the market and include the spraying technology in the development strategy. They cooperate with research institutes and universities to develop the next generation of "superhard" coatings.
(2) Prevention of "explosion and pressure reduction"
In 2002, American Petroleum Institute API 6D stipulated that the design pressure was higher than ASME Class
600 grade valve products must be designed to prevent "explosion and pressure reduction". Explosion decompression refers to the phenomenon where the pressure inside the valve rapidly decreases, and the CO2 that seeps into the seal due to the high-pressure effect rapidly expands due to the pressure reduction, causing the seal to burst and break during the valve closing process, resulting in valve failure. An oil company discovered for the first time the phenomenon of valve explosion and pressure reduction on a deep-sea platform. After the valve failed, the company had to stop working for several weeks to replace the valve, resulting in heavy losses. From then on, oil companies require valve manufacturers to provide high-pressure valves with anti explosion and pressure relief configurations. Quickly, valve manufacturers responded by developing anti explosion pressure reducing seals and anti explosion pressure reducing valves to meet stringent environmental requirements.
(3) Corrosion of sulfur-containing crude oil
The rising crude oil prices have led refining companies to focus on sulfur-containing crude oil, investing in the development of the sulfur-containing crude oil market with abundant profits, and also having a price competitive advantage in long-term supply contracts. However, the presence of corrosive media such as H2S in sulfur-containing crude oil poses new challenges to the corrosion resistance of equipment. Valve manufacturers can provide materials licensed according to ISO15156 regulations, as well as test data (according to ISO15156 regulations) to prove the corrosion resistance and long service life of valve materials. End users will include these valve manufacturers in the list of corrosion resistant valve suppliers.
(4) Runaway emissions
ISO15848 specifies requirements for the design of valve runaway emissions, and manufacturers have redesigned the packing and sealing arrangements for ordinary and special valves to meet the updated standards. However, the new standards are too general and strict, so many oil companies have formulated their own emission standards, for example, many North American companies refer to the provisions of the API622 standard. Further improvement of valve runaway emission standards requires cooperation among valve manufacturers, users, and standard setters, drawing on each other's experience, and working together to solve the problem.
(5) Early wear and equipment fatigue
In pursuit of economic benefits, many refining enterprises operate at an overload. The result is an endless increase in production equipment and renovation of systems. The expectations of enterprises for equipment greatly exceed the original intention of design, which requires valve manufacturers to be proactive and actively participate in various user tasks to avoid the adverse effects of unreasonable design in the production process on valve reliability, service life, and safety. For example, valves used in thermal cycle systems are prone to component thermal fatigue. Valve manufacturers with industrial process experience will arrange valves reasonably to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring.
(6) Preventive maintenance
In order to ensure production, petroleum enterprises require arranging equipment maintenance cycles. With the development of valve testing system, electronic hardware and software, the Preventive maintenance of valves has become a reality from an intelligent concept. A small number of valve manufacturers who are proficient in automatic control provide data analysis systems to quantify the valve operation process and provide Preventive maintenance time for valves.
(7) Automatic actuator
The automation of the refining process is the trend, and the control technology in this area has been developed for a considerable period of time. Valve manufacturers install automatic actuators on valves to meet the requirements of automatic control production. The technology of automatic actuators has been greatly developed. On the other hand, manufacturers of actuators also provide users with valve products with actuators installed. Therefore, the trend of integrating actuators and valves poses a challenge to a single manufacturer, as users hope to find a company to solve problems more easily and avoid disputes.
(8) Pipeline ball valve
The natural gas transportation pipeline project is a very large and promising market for valves. Monitoring long-distance pipelines is very important. Some companies have developed intelligent devices that users can use to detect pipelines. For example, the "smart pig" technology. This type of robot can detect the thickness of pipe walls and even corrosion points. However, the detection device requires a diameter for the pipeline, so the diameter ball valve has become the preferred product for long-distance pipeline companies. On the other hand, long-distance pipelines require the wall thickness of valves to be as thin as possible, and valve materials to have high yield toughness and corrosion resistance to meet the requirements of pipeline expansion, turning, and regional environmental changes. The most important point is that the managers of long-distance pipelines require that the service life of the purchased valves must be longer than the service life of the pipeline itself.