The Challenge

IMI Remosa was awarded a project for the installation of three new angle valves in the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit at a refinery in Australia, operated by a major oil company.

Angle valves are designed for throttling or isolating flow in commercial and industrial applications. The particular shape gives it the design advantage of allowing it to function as both a valve and a piping elbow, with consequent space and material saving.

In this specific case, the customer used these valves at the inlet, outlet and bypass lines of the filtration system upstream to the wet gas compressor.

Due to the relatively frequent maintenance required on this system, the valves need to provide sufficient leakage tightness to allow safe isolation of the equipment.

However, due to high erosion in the disc and seat area the existing valves were not working in a satisfactory manner.

Moreover, due to erosion on the internal bolting, it was not possible to disassemble the seat to easily carry out maintenance on the valves themselves, leading to increasingly higher leakage.

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The Solution

For several years there has been a great business relationship with this major customer, and a respect for IMI Remosa’s technical know-how and outstanding manufacturing capabilities.

Over recent years IMI Remosa has been replacing competitor’s incumbent slide and variable orifice valves, as well as refurbishing their plug valves at the refinery.

In light of this, the customer contacted IMI Remosa to provide its expertise in helping to solve this issue.

IMI Remosa proposed its state-of-the-art angle valve design, which features a domed disc and tapered seat to ensure a better sealing surface. The curved inlet cone section and extended application of a special lining to limit erosion, and the internal bolting design shielded from the flow allows easy maintenance of the removable seat.

The solution proposed by IMI Remosa’s engineering team solved the customer problem and further reinforced the company’s long-lasting reputation as a world leading supplier of solutions for fluid catalytic cracking on critical applications.​