To register your interest please email enquiry@belvalves.com (datasheet coming soon).

The untreated Production Stream from Hydrocarbon wells contains sand, scale, water and, often, corrosive compounds like hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. These, together with the mixture of oil and gas flowing under high pressures, exert severe wear on the seat to ball interfaces of the downstream valves. Maintaining and repairing these valves incurs production losses as well as the costs of works and intervention. Therefore, long valve life and reliability is one important requirement for pipeline valves.

Beyond this, Personnel working on downstream Processing Units need to be protected from line pressures during maintenance periods and this procedure requires the upstream pipeline to be vented. Usually, this involves employing a ‘Double-Block-and-Bleed’ system to ensure that two sealing mechanisms are present to prevent leakage. Double-Block-and-Bleed typically requires two mainline valves, a distance piece and a venting system incorporating another valve. The engineering, procurement, installation and maintenance considerations of such an assembly are considerable.

Finally, Production Systems include the installation of an Emergency Shut Down Valve (ESDV) to protect the downstream facility, installed, typically, in flowlines as a fundamental design criterion.

Wear and tear on the main seal area between the ball and seat rings is inevitable in designs that are in contact during the operation of the valve. No matter how hard and abrasive-resistant the coating the narrower the gap means the higher the velocity and the higher the velocity means a higher erosion rate.

If a single valve could address each of these problem areas simultaneously it would be a significant step towards enhancing Operational Performance, minimising CAPEX and OPEX and simplifying the Production Architecture.

The Eccentric-Ball Valve (E-Ball), designed and manufactured by BEL Valves, is a Patented single valve that performs each of these three functions simultaneously.

It works through a mechanical wedging action in an eccentric seating arrangement that enables the body to be continually flushed of debris. There is no contact between the ball and the seat except for the first two degrees of opening and the last two degrees of closing rotation which means there is no prospect of seizing during long periods of inactivity. The E-Ball is a robust, compact, top-entry valve design with a Firesafe qualification and bi-directional seals at both sides of the eccentric ball that enables the central cavity to be bled. Fewer valves means fewer actuators and parts, fewer leak paths, the elimination of weld integrity doubts and a reduction in hydraulic service requirements. A single valve saves weight, space and is easier and cheaper to install.

The design, which meets API 6A, 6D and 6FA, ANSI B16.34 and ASME VIII, is an innovation that brings Performance Improvement, Savings in CAPEX and OPEX and Simplifications in the Design Layout and Installation. It is available in Bore Sizes from 2’’ to 20’’NB, for Surface Applications in Standard and Exotic Materials that comply with NACE/EN Standards.