Valves for geothermal energy
Efficient and reliable valve solutions for geothermal energy
Geothermal is a clean and renewable source of energy. These plants and methods used to create this energy range from large scale geothermal power plants that take years to build to modularized, prefabricated power plant systems commissioned on site in weeks.
High performance and accuracy from Valmet
Meeting stringent plant safety and reliability requirements related to silica scaling, high pressure, and flashing
Low-cost, low-frequency maintenance thanks to easy-to-assemble valve design
Maximal energy usage and minimal pressure loss due to high-capacity body and trim designs
Addressing the challenge of scaling in geothermal processes
As a rule of nature, when water evaporates, solids like silica, lime, and calcium inevitably remain. Even if minimized with inhibitor chemicals, the build-up of precipitates in the valve leads to leakage. This amplifies the scaling, eventually resulting in complete failure of the valve. Valmet valves offer several solutions to alleviate this problem.
Complete valve solutions for geothermal applications
Segment valves
Neles™ segment valves are economical high-performance control valves designed for liquid, gas, vapor and slurry control applications - especially those with high capacity and wide rangeability requirements. The Neles™ R-series offers light weight, low torque control valves from 1" low-capacity models up to 32".
Butterfly valves
Neles™ butterfly valves are designed to truly optimize the efficiency of process operations by offering best-in-class valve capacity. They provide long-lasting tightness and industry-leading valve reliability, certified to SIL 3. Our product range includes both metal and soft-seated and rubber-lined butterfly valves.
Globe valves
Neles globe valves are high performance control valves designed to provide the best possible control accuracy and wide rangeability with all the inherent benefits of linear control valves. The quick-change trims and top-entry construction enable easy valve assembly and service, leading to extended operational life. Wide range of various trim designs are available from standard to low noise and anti-cavitation applications. Keeping track of the performance of the globe valves is simple with online monitoring. Neles globe valves are certified to SIL 3.
Ball valves
Our ball valves are designed to meet the requirements of the process industries with improved process safety and efficiency. Our proven technology in design, materials and coatings enhance process reliability in the most demanding shut-off and control applications. For control applications our ball valves provide famous Q-trim™ technology for noise attenuation and cavitation prevention. A wide range of product certifications include fugitive emission, fire-safe and SIL 3.
Eccentric plug valves
Neles™ Finetrol™ eccentric rotary plug valve is designed for liquid, gas, vapor and slurry control in general and demanding applications. Neles Finetrol is certified to SIL 3. Excellent control performance and capability to handle impure fluids makes Finetrol well suited in refining and petrochemical industry applications.
Eccentric plug valves
Neles Finetrol™ – The perfect solution for separator level control (LCV)
- No dead points in the seat or body cavity where brine can accumulate
- No friction between seat and plug means no damage or increase in torque
- Even with heavy scaling, interaction between the still plug and the seat ensures that the valve continues to operate
Ball valves
- Solid scraper seat design
- The precise construction of superior emergency dump valves (EDV) ensures the reliable opening of the brine line
High-performance butterfly valves
Neles L-series
- Thanks to the unique pure metal-to-metal seat, the area stays clean and tight even with heavy scaling
Jamesbury Wafer-Sphere™
- Flexible, one-piece seat
- Field-tested and proven TSO valve for ORC/binary geothermal power plants
Reliable valves for geothermal energy production
Scaling and media solids
The valves applied to control the steamy process flow coming from the boreholes drilled to the ground will come into contact with loosened soil from the ground that can contain silica, sand and other abrasives, which can cause numerous valve challenges including erosion and clogging. Valves in this application need to overcome the presence of solids while still being able to accurate control capabilities.
After steam comes out of the ground valves become critical to the safe and efficient operation of the turbines. In this case extreme measures must be taken to protect the turbine, pumps and people working in the area. Poor valve selection or maintenance could result in damages to turbine blades, superheater and reheater tubes or cause overheating in the pump.
Knowing geothermal applications
Given the breadth and sophistication of our Neles™ and Jamesbury™ product lines, we can be a single-source supplier of valve and automation technology to geothermal plants including control and on-off valves of the butterfly, globe, segment and ball valves ranging from 1’’ to 54’’. Using Valmet as the sole supplier of flow control technologies helps our customers to reduce spare parts inventory and maintenance costs while also mitigating the stress of procurement and commissioning.
At the wellhead, control valves, such as Neles Finetrol™ and R-series segment valves are in wide use by many customers at the drill hole exits. On the turbine side, soft seated Jamesbury Wafer-Sphere™ valves and Neles metal seated triple eccentric disc valves are commonly applied.
We have considerable experience helping customers to size and select the right valves for geothermal service. The Nelprof™ valve selection software is also available to help engineers with valve sizing and calculating calculate flow characteristics. Once in service, FieldCare™ Device and Asset Management software helps to carry out predictive maintenance with live monitoring of the valve performance.
High performance and control accuracy
We offer accumulated knowledge gained through experience from several geothermal power plants in Iceland, Turkey, Mexico, USA, Indonesia and Kenya. Reliable valve solutions featuring high control performance and control accuracy play a significant role in extracting geothermal energy from the heat of the Earth.
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