Stuart Billingham details five years of faultless operation in Australian project
Customers across the entire southwest of Australia can enjoy an uninterrupted and safe supply of energy courtesy of a precision-engineered gas choke valve built in the UK. Yorkshire-based engineering firm KKI built a bespoke valve for the client. Five years later, the valve is still performing faultlessly.
KKI was approached by a client who required a choke valve for its gas storage facility. The facility provides gas to the entire Southwest of Australia, including millions of people who live in Perth. The client had initially commissioned valves from another company, but they were noisy and underperformed in operation. The team approached KKI for a solution requiring a replacement choke valve that eliminated these issues.
KKI engineers developed a gas storage choke valve featuring a bi-directional trim in full tungsten carbide with a special sealing arrangement. The valve was designed to minimise noise and optimise operations, providing a tight seat shutoff in both flow directions.
The UK engineering team manufactured and installed the new valve in 2016, where it has operated flawlessly for over five years. It demonstrates the quality and reliability of KKI’s valve engineering and end-to-end service for the energy sector.
A KKI service engineer visited the local testing facility in Australia to assess the condition of the valve and define the performance parameters and design requirements. They performed three seat leakage tests in both flow directions. This ensured that the bi-directional seals met the ANSI/FCI 70-2 Class V project requirements. The service engineer assisted with the installation of the choke valve onto the surface Christmas tree, ensuring it was safe and secure.
KKI’s end-to-end solution fully addressed the control performance and eliminated the previous noise concerns. The customer has experienced no issues in the last five years of operation. The valve injection operation has been used 101 times in the past six months, with the withdrawal operation performed 48 times.
KKI's range of precision-engineered choke valves is used in energy facilities worldwide, operating in the most challenging conditions, including subsea operations. Its valves are used for surface and subsea applications and are increasingly used in sustainable and renewable energy facilities.
Alongside onshore and offshore gas, the business partners with companies across the transition energy sectors, including offshore floating wind, surface & subsea electrification, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and hydrogen applications.
In 2022, Koso KKI and innovative valve manufacturers Oxford Flow established a new partnership. The two valve engineering companies are combining industry knowledge, engineering expertise and valve heritage to create a unique market proposition. KKI and Oxford Flow are working together to develop new products and solutions for the growing global energy valve market.
Stuart Billingham is with Koso Kent Introl
