Huge Benefits of Flowserve Ball Valve

Flowserve Ball Valve Helps Oil Sands Customers Reduce Total Cost of Ownership, Increase Plant Uptime.

Flowserve Corporation, introduces the Flowserve Worcester Series 608 three-piece ball valve, which provides high-cycle life, durability and increased plant uptime for customers in the oil sands industry.

“Worcester Series 608 valves offer extended service life and superior seat and seal design, which reduce total cost of ownership and help increase plant uptime,” said Brian Hood, Product Manager, Flowserve Flow Control Division. “This Flowserve technology meets the unique requirements of the Canadian oil sands market.”

The valves feature an optimized stem design and live-loaded stem seals, which meet the requirements of API 608 and increase mean time between failure (MTBF). The Worcester flexible lip-seat design provides extended cycle life.

Demand for products designed for Canadian oil sands applications is increasing. According to the government of Alberta, production at the Alberta oil sands is expected to increase from 1.31 million barrels per day in 2008 to 3 million barrels per day in 2018.

The valves provide improved performance, extended cycle life and excellent durability in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAG-D) process applications. SAG-D is a bitumen-recovery process that involves injecting steam through a series of wells into the oil sands to separate the bitumen and water from the sand particles. The hot bitumen migrates toward producing wells, where it is brought to the surface while the sand particles remain.

Worcester 608 valves are used in the SAG-D process, which involves steam and oil drain circuits, for in situ recovery of the bitumen in Canadian oil sands. The valves are also used in upgrader plants, where the bitumen is converted to crude oil via a refinery process that is made up of thermal conversion, catalytic conversion, distillation and hydrotreating.

The valves incorporate the stem-design requirements of API 608, including torsion-strength requirements, and are fully tested to API 598. Additional options consist of NACE compliance, API 607 fire safety, metal-seating options and multiple end connections.

The Worcester Series 608 valve design is built on proven Worcester three-piece ball valve technology. The new valve complements the Worcester portfolio of products, which boasts a long history of use in the Canadian oil sands industry.

For more information about Worcester Series 608 three-piece ball valves, please call Flowserve Flow Control at 01444 314400
Website: www.flowserve.com

Published: 10th December 2010