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Valve design minimises shear forces

A Severn Glocon product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 3, 2005

Severn Glocon has developed a 'low shear' control valve design specifically to enhance the performance of oil and water separation operations in the offshore oil and gas industries.

Severn Glocon, a UK-based control valve manufacturer, has developed a 'low shear' control valve design specifically to enhance the performance of oil and water separation operations in the offshore oil and gas industries.

Efficient oil and water separation is crucially important to ensure that water produced during platform operations can be returned to the sea in a clean and environmentally safe condition.

The efficiency of separation systems is significantly affected by the level of emulsification and the oil droplet size in the water as it enters the system.

A control valve has to be used to reduce water pressure on entering the separation system, and the design of this valve can have a marked effect on emulsification, which is often increased by the shear forces created in traditional high fluid velocity control valve trim designs.

The Severn Unival low shear trim (LST) valve overcomes this problem by replacing the conventional multi-hole, multi-cage trim design with a design comprising a combination of larger area passageways with integral right-angle turns.

The passageway area increases continually through the trim, contributing to further velocity reduction and allowing for gas breakout, while the profile of the turns within the trim minimise vortices and turbulence.

In this way the design minimises shear forces and high velocities.

It therefore successfully achieves pressure reduction while minimising any adverse effects on the emulsification and droplet size characteristics of the oil in the water.

The success of the design has been endorsed by its prompt specification on separation plant projects in Norway for the North Sea.

Another development, the high length/diameter trim (HLDT), is available for applications where the pressure drop is less severe.

Enhanced frictional pressure reduction is achieved with a multi-hole cage with a vastly higher length-to-diameter ratio for each hole.

Fluid velocity is reduced while trim passageways expand throughout the pressure reduction stage to allow for increased fluid volume with reduced velocities.

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