CCI Valves Help Turn Desert into Oasis

Jeddah plant of Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in Saudi Arabia has been facing problems with their main and startup feedwater regulators due to difficult transition from startup to main valve. Existing startup valve was also not capable of handling higher-pressure drops, resulting in vibration, frequent trim damage, packing leaks and poor control. Since these problems can lead to things such as loss in production, costly maintenance and possible system shutdown, it was essential that Jeddah plant find a solution that would prevent any future problems. After careful evaluation, the Jeddah plant placed an order with CCI for a 12-in. x 12-in. (305-mm x 305-mm) DRAG® valve that would serve functions of both a main and startup feedwater valve. With a flow rate of 1500000 lb/hr (680 mt/hr), the CCI valve is designed to handle design pressures as high as 2900 psig (200 barg) and temperatures ranging up to 430 F (220 C).

Performance of the feedwater control valves, which are the final control elements, is crucial in achieving the desired level of control in the system. A properly designed valve will have the high rangeability necessary to combine the startup and main valve and thereby eliminate transition from smaller valve to larger valve. Valves in this application also require protection against cavitation at low flows, low resistance at maximum flow and at least Class IV shutoff. By combining different flows and pressure drop requirements in a single valve, CCI was able to provide a solution that eliminates costly parallel piping and tricky control during transition.

This, in turn, results in smooth plant startup and elimination of plant trips during transition. CCI has successfully sold the combined startup and main feedwater valve solution to several plants all over the world. DRAG® technology, coupled with capability to offer features such as high rangeability, equal percent characterization and fine resolution results in a unique solution that only CCI can offer to customers worldwide.

Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has 22 units in Saudi Arabia and is one of the largest desalination facilities in the world. SWCC recently also brought several CCI attemperator valves for the steam PRDS system and is convinced that CCI DRAG® is the right solution for severe service applications. This feedwater regulator order from Jeddah plant represents an important breakthrough for CCI and presents significant opportunities to replicate this success at remaining units of SWCC.

Assemblage of a feedwater regulator valve similar to the one supplied to the Jeddah Plant

Published in SOLUTIONS Spring 2002