Orseal Safety-Critical Oxygen Service Valves Specified For Indian Steel Plant Modernisation

Industrial valve specialist Orseal, who provide flow control solutions for all fluids and gases, have built up over the years considerable specialist experience of providing valves for highly demanding applications. These include areas where extremely high temperatures are generated and processes where exceptional corrosion-resistance is required.

The steel industry, where oxygen-service valves are needed, has benefited particularly from Orseal’s hazardous area expertise.

Orseal 20 inch flanged valve in Monel

Oxygen service has many inherent dangers. All materials will react with gaseous or liquid oxygen at certain temperatures and pressures. The reaction that occurs can cause a fire or even worse an explosion, which makes it vital for companies supplying valves to the steel industry to have a thorough understanding of system processes and material properties. The selection of the wrong valve material could have disastrous consequences.

One of Orseal’s most recent oxygen-service projects was for ISP in West Bengal, a fully-integrated iron and steel plant that was undergoing a modernisation programme to increase its capacity to 2.5 million tonnes per year.

Orseal’s Special Projects Division, which undertakes customised valve design and manufacture including valve packages, supplied 20” FB flanged valves in Monel for the modernisation programme. These were trunnion mounted and suitable for operating temperatures of up to 200oC. Monel, which has exceptional strength, hardness and corrosion resistance, was an ideal material for such a demanding application. Before dispatch the valves were subjected to a process of ultra-cleaning to remove all grease and any other materials that might react with the oxygen

The valves have proven to be extremely reliable, rugged and efficient in a plant where the very highest standards of safety and performance are absolutely vital.

ISP iron and steel plant, West Bengal