Severn Unival meets complex LNG and gas terminal valve requirements

March 2020 saw people around the world preoccupied with the daily news and tightening restrictions surrounding Covid-19. However, the manufacturing and services teams at Severn Unival’s Brighouse facility refused to let the evolving situation distract them from urgent and time-critical customer work.

Meeting the ice-road deadline
An ice-road waits for no one, so Brighouse engineers had their work cut out ensuring six butterfly valves were ready to reach a north Russian LNG plant before the spring melt.

The order comprised four 20” ASME 300 and two 16” ASME 900 double flanged short pattern triple offset butterfly valves. The Brighouse team designed, manufactured, assembled and tested the valves in-house, comfortably shipping them by the mid-March deadline.

Manufactured in CF8M with electric actuators, these control valves surpassed the customer’s Class IV leakage requirement, achieving the more challenging ‘Class VI or better’ standard.

An urgent job for a UK gas terminal
The engineers’ resilience was put to the test again following a valve-related unplanned shutdown for a major UK gas terminal on Sunday 22 March.

Severn Unival’s UK Service Manager, Ian Kenworthy, led the response. He inspected the valve in situ on the Sunday, before assembling a team on Monday 23 March to design a new gland clamp arrangement.

“The issue related to a 10” butterfly valve: four gland studs had sheared,” Ian explains. “No gas was leaking, but a rapid and effective technical response was required to ensure the plant could get back online as quickly and safely as possible.”

Despite the challenges posed by social distancing, design calculations were completed and approved that day. Manufacture began immediately, wrapping up on the Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday evening, the plant was operational again and the customer spoke highly of the “hard work, ingenuity and tenacity” displayed by the team.

David Brennan, MD of Severn Unival, states: “The engineers in Brighouse deserve a huge amount of credit for helping the customer resolve this issue, especially as they were just getting accustomed to the new working conditions related to Covid-19. Ian and his team pulled out all the stops, and the customer was full of praise. This underlines the strong work ethic that I’ve witnessed since joining Severn.”

Tel: 0845 223 2040
Email: sales@severnglocon.co.uk
Web: www.severnglocon.com

Published: 14th May 2020