Saint-Gobain Seals, the company that designs and manufactures polymer critical parts that protect core systems in severe service environments, has recently developed a technical engineering manual. This publication is for a major oil & gas producer company and provides selection guidelines specifically for polymer lip seals in oil and gas API 6D isolation valves.
The Saint-Gobain engineering team was approached by the producing company’s valve subject matter expert who had the idea to write a guidance document that could improve the awareness around seals being critical parts that make a big difference in severe service operations where function and integrity are important. In particular, isolation valves are key pieces of protective instrumentation both in lines and flowlines throughout the oil and gas industry.
Using its approximately three decades of knowledge and experience, Saint-Gobain’s engineering team created the technical manual with a focus on trunnion-mounted ball valves and covering the following conditions:
• Pressure: class #150 up to #2500
• Temperature: -120°C up to +200°C
• Size: up to 20”
The manual details that the main criteria that should be used to select the correct combination of design and materials is:
1. Seal position in the valve (seat, stem or static parts);
2. Media, pressure rating and temperature range; and
3. Special requirements such as material qualification and fugitive emission.
This technical document was widely distributed among the oil and gas customer’s main operations and is currently being used to assist with ongoing challenges relating to logistics, safety and costs.
Photo Courtesy of Saint-Gobain Seals