Jul. 14, 2025
Hardware
In no other sector are the requirements as diverse as in industrial applications. Whether in the field of water treatment, the chemical industry, the paper industry or the mining industry, to name just a few, GEMÜ diaphragm valves with various different linings are the first process valve of choice. In many cases, a valve with a full metal body cannot be used, since the corrosive medium attacks and can even destroy the material.
A purely plastic body is often also unsuitable, since the temperatures can be higher than the material allows. GEMÜ has the right solution with its lined metal valve bodies, which meet even the strictest requirements in conjunction with the appropriate diaphragm material and thereby ensure a high degree of operational reliability.
Full bore diaphragm valves as opposed to weir-type diaphragm valves have specific advantages in certain media applications.
For more information, please visit our website.
Full bore diaphragm valves are primarily used in the fields of water and waste water treatment, mining, the mineral, paper and cellulose processing industry, the chemical industry or at power stations and steelworks. Their virtually full bore gives them an advantage over other conventional shut-off valves, particularly when working with viscous liquids such as slurry and liquids with a high solid or fibre content. A metal valve body with hard rubber lining can be used when processing abrasive media such as surface water with sand content or milk of lime for water treatment. The entire medium wetted part is therefore protected by the lining, which prevents micro-pitting (hydroabrasion).
A new product that rounds off our portfolio of full bore diaphragm valves is the GEMÜ 657. This is also a manually operated valve that has been designed with specific emphasis on achieving the highest Kv values. The high-flow valve, which is available in nominal widths from DN 25 to DN 200, has been designed in such a way that the full pipe diameter is available when the valve is open. In various applications, this allows smaller nominal sizes to be used than would be the case with conventional valves, which in turn helps reduce costs.
Weir-type diaphragm valves are used far more frequently as shut-off valves than full bore diaphragm valves. Indeed, they can be used in around 90% of all industrial applications. Depending on the application in question, valves with purely metal bodies made of cast iron or stainless steel sometimes do not offer the necessary protection. Indeed, they can quickly reach their limits, particularly when processing corrosive media. For these cases, metal bodies made of GGG40.3 spheroidal iron or even 1. investment casting stainless steel are lined with PFA (perfluoroalkoxy) using the latest plastic injection moulding machines. The advantages of this process, coupled with our many years of expertise, produce high quality, precisely definable geometric features, a consistent wall thickness, as well as a high degree of process system safety and reproducibility of the linings. Other high quality materials such as PP (polypropylene) and hard rubber are also incorporated in the metal bodies using the same process. Some typical applications are sulphuric acid, chlorine and caustic soda.
Gasoline is made from petroleum oil through the refinery process, which includes Distillation, Conversion, and Treatment.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average American driver puts more than 13,000 miles on their vehicle every year.
To cover all that ground, we fill our tanks with 500 gallons of gasoline.
Most of us know gasoline is tied to oil. But is gasoline made from oil? In this article, we’ll cover a few basics of the gasoline refining process.
Crude oil that comes out of the ground has to go through a lot before it gets to your car.
When producers extract it from the ground, they run it through initial separation at the well site. Then midstream companies pipe it downstream to refineries for further processing and separation.
The best kind of oil has two characteristics:
The ideal oil for gasoline production is both “light” and “sweet.”
Every day, 647 million gallons of oil are refined. This takes place at the large, multi-faceted processing plants called oil refineries.
At the refineries, three primary processes take place: Distillation, Conversion, and Treatment.
The final products are then distributed by retailers as something you may recognize: high or low octane gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, or gasoline with ethanol.
The standard unit of measurement for produced oil is a barrel, or BBL, which amounts to 42 gallons.
Of these 42 gallons, 20 gallons are used for gasoline, 12.5 are used for lower octane fuels such as diesel, 3.5 are used for jet fuel, and 6.3 are used for various petroleum products.
2. Common Oil and Gas AbbreviationsOil and gas companies and market publications use several abbreviations for produced resources, including BBL, BOE, BTU and MCF. In this article, we’ll define some of the most common abbreviations and their volume prefixes.
The abbreviation BBL stands for a barrel of crude oil. In the oil industry, an oil barrel is 42 US gallons.
Some sources say this abbreviation originated with Standard Oil Co. — the first oil giant in the United States, founded in by John D. Rockefeller.
Standard Oil used blue barrels to store and transport oil, thus most believe BBL originated as a symbol for “blue barrel”.
However, some sources believe the additional "b" in BBL may have simply been doubled to indicate the plural, such as 2 BBL.
To measure oil production, you may see many different abbreviations (BPD, BOPD, BBL/D, BPD, BP, or B/D) which all represent “barrels of oil per day."
Barrels per day may also need to be converted to a different scale of gallons per minute or GPM. This is a fluid flow rate of production rather than a measure of volume like BBL. This measurement is just as common but looks at production differently depending on what you need to learn from the information.
However, the acronym GPM is also a measurement for natural gas meaning gallons per Mcf, or gallons of NGLs produced per thousand cubic feet of gas processed. It’s a means for measuring the difference between lean and rich gas – as measured by the BTU of the gas and its GPM. The richer your gas, the more gallons you get.
The number for barrels of oil per day can refer to anything from a global amount produced to a single production field so the numbers can vary wildly.
In the oil and gas industry, the prefix “M” stands for “one thousand.” Thus, “MM” is “M multiplied by M,” or one million.
You’ll commonly see barrels per day written as Mbbl (thousand barrels of oil) or MMbbl (million barrels of oil).
Cubic feet is the measurement of volume used for natural gas.
MCF stands for 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas (1 MCF). Total gas reserve volumes are not typically in thousands of cubic feet, but rather in millions (MMCF), billions (BCF), and trillions (TCF).
CFM is cubic feet per minute. It is the measurement of the rate of flow for natural gas and is written as per day (CFD) or per minute (CFM).
Again, the prefix M (MCFD or MCFM) is one thousand and MM (MMCFD or NNCFM) is one million cubic feet per day.
BTU is a unit of heat which stands for “British Thermal Unit.” BTU is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit under standard conditions of pressure and temperature.
Simply put for our industry, BTU is a measure of the energy content of a fuel, in this case, natural gas.
There is no universal conversion for energy to volume because the energy content varies with the natural gas composition. As an approximation, 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas yields about 1,000,000 BTU when burned.
The price of natural gas is often expressed in currency units per energy content. For example, US dollars per million BTU (USD per MMBtu or ~1,000 cubic feet of natural gas).
The abbreviation BOE stands for “barrel of oil equivalent.” It is a unit of energy that combines different types of energy resources, like oil and natural gas, into a single figure to more easily represent the total amount of energy that a company can access.
Crude oil reserves are measured in barrels (BBL) and natural gas is measured in cubic feet (mcf). Converting these reserves to a barrel of oil equivalent, or BOE, gives a total energy content in a single unit. Now natural gas and other energy resources can be equally compared to the energy from one barrel of oil.
BOE is mostly used by exploration and production companies when reporting their total amount of reserves. It communicates to investors the total energy content that company can access.
Here’s an example of this unit of energy measurement:
6 MCF = 1 BOE
1,000 cubic feet of natural gas (1 MCF) contains about 1/6 of the energy content of a single barrel of oil. Therefore 6 MCF (6,000 cubic feet of natural gas) equals 1 BOE. That quantity of natural gas is “equivalent” to one barrel of oil.
Daily energy production and consumption is expressed in barrels of oil equivalent per day or BOE/D. This unit is important to the financial community because it is a way to help evaluate the performance of energy companies.
Just as with barrels per day, you’ll commonly see MBOE (thousand barrel of oil equivalent) and MMBOE (million barrel of oil equivalent).
Relating this back to BTU, in the US, 1 BOE is equal to 5.8 million BTU.
3. The Most Common Control Valve Symbols on a P&IDEngineers use control valve symbols to identify the type of control valve they want to specify for a given application. In this article, we will identify the most commonly used control valve symbols.
Before the completion of a well, a Facilities Engineer creates a diagram of all the piping and instrumentation designated for use in the production of the well. This is called a “Piping and Instrumentation Diagram” and is usually shortened to “P&ID.”
Upon the completion and approval of the P&ID, it then moves to a Purchasing Department. This department is responsible for getting this information to various equipment vendors, requesting quotes, and purchasing equipment for the well.
Vendors then manufacture, package, and ship the equipment to the production site. On site, a combination of Production Superintendents, Foremen, Lease Operators, and crews of Pumpers and Roustabouts install the equipment in accordance with the P&ID.
The control valve symbols on a P&ID differ depending on the type of valve specified for the application. Each P&ID has its own legend that identifies the symbols for the various equipment.
While there is some variation, examples of the standard symbols for control valves are in the PDF below.
Symbols include:
Download P&ID Reference Guide
An engineer may also include specific details below the control valve symbol. These details may include the size, function, pressure rating, and connection type of the valve.
For example, the note 2" 300 RF PB indicates that the P&ID calls for this valve to be a 2" ANSI 300 Raised Face Piston-Balanced Valve.
4. Six Ways to Separate an Oil and Water EmulsionAn oil and water emulsion refers specifically to the fluid that comes directly from an oil and gas well.
When a well is produced, what comes to the surface is a mixture of crude oil, water, gas, and solids. After the gas has been separated from the liquid, the oil and water that remain must also be separated.
Emulsions in the oil industry are either classified as "water in oil" or "oil in water" depending on the ratio of the volume of liquids.
Gas brought to the surface is usually "wet gas" composed of dry natural gas like methane mixed with liquid natural gases like ethane and butane.
All these components are separated using multiple principles of separation to achieve the desired end products that are considered valuable.
In this video, we explain 6 principles used to separate an oil and water emulsion in the oil and gas industry.
When separating liquids from each other, heating to certain temperatures enhances separation. When the temperature of an oil and water emulsion is increased, the viscosity of oil is decreased. This lower viscosity allows the gas and water molecules to be more easily released. Heating oil emulsions also increases density between oil and water.
A heater treater is an example of a vessel which uses the principle of temperature change to aid in separation. For more on how a Heater Treater works, check out our Oil and Gas Equipment 101 learning path.
Gravity separation is the most widely used method for oil emulsion separation. The elements in the well stream such as oil and water have different gravities.
The density differences allow water to separate by gravity. With enough time in a non-turbulent state, the differing specific gravities will naturally separate into distinct layers.
To picture this, think of the emulsion as Italian dressing. If you let the dressing set, the ingredients will separate according to their different specific gravities. The olive oil will float on top because it is lighter than the vinegar, and the solids and other ingredients will fall to the bottom because they are the heaviest.
Separation occurs over time. When you reduce the velocity of a fluid, you allow the fluid a certain amount of time for it to be separated by gravity.
Retention time is the amount of time the fluid mixture stays in a steady or non-agitated state inside a separator. Longer retention time means more separation.
A larger-diameter or taller vessel will increase the retention time and allow more water to settle out by gravity.
In the video we show a sample of a mixture from a free water knockout, and you can see three layers: oil, water and solid, which separated over time.
A production fluid is agitated when it hits the diverter plate at the inlet of a vessel. The sudden impact on the plate causes a rapid change in direction and velocity which helps break the surface tension of the liquids and start the separation process.
There are many types of inlet diverters in separators, and the which is used depends on the attributes and volume of the well stream.
Agitation increases the probability that the liquid will coalesce and settle from the emulsion.
During coalescence, water droplets come together to form larger drops.
Picture yourself driving on a foggy morning. The fog tells us there is is a lot of moisture in the air, but it doesn't actually condense into liquid until it hits your windshield.
The same is true when gas hits a hard surface. This may be a diverter plate when it first enters the vessel, or a mist eliminator as it exits.
In vane-type mist eliminators, tiny droplets are removed from the vapor stream through inertial impaction. The wet gas is forced to change directions, causing mist droplets to strike the vanes and coalesce with other droplets, eventually falling.
This inertial impaction also occurs in mesh-type mist eliminators.
Gas must flow around each strand of mesh, and when mist droplet strikes the filaments, they adhere and coalesce to form droplets large enough to fall.
Submicron droplets zig-zag through the close-packed fibers with "Brownian motion" and will eventually strike, adhere, coalesce, and drain.
Treating fluids with demulsifiers aids the separation process. The chemicals move to the oil and water interface, weakening the surface tension and enhancing coalescence. Knowing which chemicals to use and the correct dosage can be complex, but the desired effect will minimize the amount of heat or retention time required for separation.
5. Water Management in Oil and GasSalt water disposal is a large and often overlooked area of the oil and gas industry.
There are approximately 1 million producing oil and gas wells in United States, and altogether they produce 58 million barrels of water each day—twice the amount that flows over Niagara Falls in 24 hours. This is why the discussion about bringing a well online to produce oil and gas begins with water.
Altogether, it takes approximately 13 million gallons of water to drill and fracture a well. Producers must figure out where all this water will come from and how to get it to the wellhead.
Some companies use freshwater sources from a pond or river and pumped through flexible hoses to their well site.
Because of the large volumes needed in this process, more and more companies are using recycled water from previously drilled, nearby wells.
In this process, storage ponds are dug for the water, where it is treated, processed, and eventually sent back to the well pad to be re-used in the drilling and completion processes.
In the drilling process, water is injected into the drill string and used to cool the drill bit as it bores into the earth. It is also used to bring rock cuttings and any other debris back up to the surface. This water is then referred to as drilling mud and can be reused over and over for the drilling process.
A second need for water in production is for fracturing a well. Water is an essential part of the completion process as it carries the proppant or sand down into the well and helps keep the fractures that are created open.
Water management in oil and gas is creating processes to handle and direct this water where you need it to go.
This illustration below shows the general process of oil, gas, and water separation.
Produced water is a byproduct during the extraction of oil and natural gas. It comes out of the wellhead and is mixed with oil and gas.
It then goes through various separation vessels where the water, oil and gas are separated from each other. The water leaves the vessel and travels to storage while the oil and gas goes through one or two more stages of separation.
Producers have two options for the produced water: dispose of it or treat it for re-use.
As the injected water comes up in the production fluid, commonly referred to as “flowback water” or "oil well water," companies must then figure out what to do with it: dispose of it or recycle it.
A salt water disposal well is a well used to inject the salt water from oil and gas wells back into the formation.
Drive down a road in the Permian Basin, STACK, or any other oil and gas producing area, and you’re sure to spot a disposal well, also referred to as a salt water injection well.
Trucks transport the salt water from a producing well to the unloading facility on these sites, where the water is pumped to a tank battery.
There, what oil remains in the water—referred to as “skim oil”—is separated into a holding tank. The water will settle in saltwater tanks, and eventually be pumped down the disposal well.
The oil will be sold and trucked away from the site, while the water will be injected into the formation. This process is also referred to as SWD in oil and gas.
Salt is a very corrosive element. You know this if you live near the ocean or in a region where the roads are regularly salted during winter.
While salt itself does not cause metal to rust, it accelerates the rusting process because electrons move more easily in salt water than they do in pure water.
This means the material in your salt water injection valves, vessels and other equipment must be durable.
A Weight-Operated Dump Valve (previously called a treater valve) is a throttling valve that uses a weight to hold liquid level in salt water disposal systems.
On a salt water disposal well, the Weight-Operated Dump Valve can regulate the fluid in both the oil tanks and water tanks.
It can be outfitted with a metals and elastomers designed specifically to handle corrosive salt water. We also offer a variety valve coatings to limit corrosion and erosion.
6. What is the Joule-Thomson Effect?The Joule-Thomson Effect, also referred to as the JT effect, is an important concept that can negatively affect oil and gas production if not accounted for.
Discovered by British physicists in the 19th century, this principle states that when the pressure of a gas changes, its temperature also changes.
In natural gas production, this means that when you reduce gas pressure across a control valve or pressure reducing regulator, you also reduce its temperature.
According to the Joule Thomson Effect, a 100 psi pressure drop results in a temperature drop of 6-8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Because all gas carries some element of moisture in it, this temperature drop can present the potential for freezing when your gas line drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
For example, if you are cutting the gas pressure from 900 to 200 PSI across a pressure reducing regulator, the temperature of the gas would drop approximately 42-56 degrees when flowing across the regulator.
To prevent freezing, operators sometimes wrap insulation and heat tape around their valve. This method presents a challenge when you need to check or repair the valve.
Suggested reading:For more information, please visit SASTAR.
A good alternative is a gas catalytic heater.
This heater uses supply gas to provide a flameless, radiant heat that keeps your valve above freezing. It features a side door that allows operators easy access for maintenance or repair. The surface of the heater reaches a maximum of 700°F and is approved for hazardous environments.
7. What are NGLs in Oil and Gas Production?NGLs are Natural Gas Liquids produced from an oil and gas well.
NGLs condense and fall out of the gas stream in pipelines or separation vessels due to a decrease in temperature, increase in pressure, or the scrubbing action that takes place inside the pipeline.
Natural gas produced from a well contains many different resources that are separated at upstream and midstream gas production facilities.
These products are valuable and can be sold and used for heat, cooking, fuel, and more.
In the chart below, you can see the different resources that make up natural gas.
In addition to these resources, impurities can also be present in large proportions in natural gas, including:
Producers and midstream companies must extract and dispose of these unwanted components during their production processes.
Two of the primary usable products produced are Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG).
As mentioned above, raw natural gas contains many different resources. In order to isolate these resources, including NGLs, gas companies must “crack” the gasses.
Cracking gasses is a general term that means breaking various elements out of the natural gas we extract from below ground.
Processing plants run natural gas through a series of tanks designed to separate impurities, water, and natural gas liquids, or NGLs. They extract NGLs using a few primary methods:
As you can see from the chart below, at a given dew point, a specific resource will condense and fall out of the gas.
Read: What is Hydrocarbon Dew Point?
Natural Gas is a raw, multi-faceted resource that must be cracked into various specific elements for consumer use.
NGLs are heavy hydrocarbon compounds with much higher dew points than methane and ethane gases (dry natural gas). These NGLs condense into liquids at higher temperatures than dry natural gas (methane & ethane).
Liquified Natural Gas, abbreviated LNG, is a type of Natural Gas Liquid (NGL).
LNG is made primarily of methane. By adjusting the temperature of the methane to its hydrocarbon dew point, refineries convert the gas to liquid so it is easier to transport and sell. At ambient pressure, the LNG will be at temperatures approximately –256° F.
LNG is used when a pipeline is not available to get the gas to market. It is increasingly common in offshore and developing regions.
Liquified Petroleum Gas, abbreviated LPG, is another type of Natural Gas Liquid (NGL).
LPG is made up of Propane and Butanes. Refineries liquify this gas at low temperatures (between -43° and 31° F).
LPG is typically used for heating and cooking and is commonly called “bottled gas.”
While LPG is considered a type of Natural Gas Liquid, Pentanes Plus are pure NGLs.
8. Six Key Terms in Upstream Oil and Gas AutomationUpstream oil and gas automation refers to the growing trend of using electronic and digital tools to control production processes. For some, this is cause for excitement as they see opportunities for efficiency gains and lower emissions. For others, it’s cause for anxiety as they feel intimidated by the seeming complexities of electric power.
In this video, Kimray Product Support Technician Jordan Moore explains 6 key terms in upstream oil and gas automation.
A PLC, which stands for “Programmable Logic Controller,” is a computer that’s been programmed to control a process. A PLC receives information about process conditions and then sends information to devices on a production site in order to control them.
To send and receive this data, a PLC uses a communication system called SCADA.
Here’s one example of how a PLC could work:
An electric temperature controller is digitally reading the temperature in a heater treater. You’ve specified a set point in your PLC and set a protocol so it will react when the temperature gets above or below that point.
If the temperature gets above the set point, the PLC will send a signal to a burner valve to reduce the amount of supply gas going to your burner, which will lower the temperature.
RTU stands for Remote Terminal Unit. An RTU is a basic digital readout box on a well site that receives process conditions from controllers and pilots. These readouts may be temperature or pressure readings among others. Some have touch screens while others have simple digital readouts.
RTUs are controlled by and send process information to a SCADA system, which receives the information and supervises the RTUs.
PLC and RTU Comparison
An I/P positioner is a device that receives an electrical current signal, abbreviated “I,” and converts it to a corresponding pneumatic signal, abbreviated “P.” To do this, it also has a supply gas input that provides the pneumatic pressure.
Our YAK2, for example, receives a 4-20 mA signal and converts it to a corresponding 6-30 PSI pneumatic signal, which it sends to the pneumatic actuator of a control valve.
A transducer receives a pneumatic signal and converts it to a corresponding electric signal.
One example of an I/P and Transducer working together is on our Electric Valve Controller.
On this package, the Transducer measures process pressure and gives a raw 4-20mA signal to the pilot.
The Electric Pilot then takes that signal and converts it to a proportional 4-20mA signal and sends that to the I/P Positioner.
The I/P positioner converts that electric input signal to a corresponding 6-30 PSI output signal and sends that level of supply gas to the High Pressure Control Valve.
Some people wonder why they need the pilot in this instance. Without the pilot, there is no decision maker. The pilot takes the raw transducer signal and converts it to an accurate corresponding pressure.
A solar panel uses UV light to produce DC electricity, which most electric control equipment can run on.
You may wonder what happens at night or on a cloudy day? The power captured is stored in a battery or bank of batteries.
Solar panels can be used in an array of oil and gas applications and are common in more remote areas. Solar panels allow you to reap the benefits of electric power without the cost of running electric wiring to your site.
Make sure to size the solar panels and batteries to handle your specific application.
When most people think of electricity, they think of plugging a device into a wall. That is AC, which stands for Alternating Current. On a well site, AC power can come from wires run to a nearby power pole. One common product that uses AC is an Electric Submersible Pump, which is used for artificial lift.
DC, which stands for Direct Current, is what’s stored in batteries. On a well site, DC is most often generated by solar panels, though it may also derive from an AC-DC converter.
To see how easy it is to take a first step into valve automation, watch this video on our Electric Valve Controller package.
9. What's the Difference Between Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP) and Valve Operating Pressure?The maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of a control valve (or regulator) is the highest amount of pressure the valve is rated to flow. If an operator forces the valve to flow pressure above the MAWP, the components—such as springs, diaphragms, o-rings, or the body itself—may fail.
Here are examples from three of our most popular products:
While the MAWP of a valve is a static number, the valve operating pressure is the range for a regulator or valve pilot. Some literature also refers to operating pressure as “set point pressure.”
Using our examples above:
Critical Flow Factor, often referred to as “Cf” is a coefficient that defines how pressure will recover after it drops to its lowest point inside the control valve. This lowest point is also referred to as the vena contracta*.
All globe-style control valves have a Cf that stays consistent regardless of the trim position, unlike the Flow Coefficient (Cv).
Cf is a factor needed in order to calculate Flow Coefficient (Cv) or Flow Rate for valve sizing purposes. You can find the Cf for each Kimray valve on its product detail page or on the Sizing Page in the “Valve Coefficients” dropdown.
Note: The Pressure Recovery Factor (FL) also refers to the Critical Flow Factor in some literature.
Below is an illustration of how Cf is determined.
First, fluid or gas (shown here in light blue) enters a control valve. This results in the pressure dropping until it reaches the vena contracta, or its lowest point. Then it continues downstream and the pressure bounces back (or recovers).
The coefficient for this recovery is the Critical Flow Factor. It is discovered by dividing the downstream pressure after vena contracta by the downstream pressure at vena contracta, then calculating the square root of that number.
All globe-style control valves have a CF that stays consistent regardless of the stem travel. This is unlike the CV value, which increases as the valve opens.
*Vena contracta is the point in a flow stream where the diameter of the stream is smallest, and fluid velocity is at its maximum.
11. What is Valve Flow Coefficient (Cv)?Valve Flow Coefficient (Cv) is a valve’s capacity for a liquid or gas to flow through it.
It is technically defined as “the volume of water at 60°F (in US gallons) that will flow through a valve per minute with a pressure drop of 1 psi across the valve.”
In simpler terms, the larger the opening in a valve, the larger the Cv. As a valve is opening, the Cv increases until the valve is fully open, where it reaches its highest possible Cv, or 100% open Cv.
Below is a Valve Cv chart showing flow curves for two different valves: a 2-inch and 3-inch Kimray back pressure regulator.
As the stem opens, the Cv increases.
The maximum Cv for the 2-inch regulator is 47, while the maximum for the 3-inch regulator is 117.
We recommend you select a valve for which the Cv falls between 20% and 80% open stem travel.
For example:
The first question you need to ask when valve sizing is “What is my pressure?”
While it sounds obvious to choose high pressure valve for high pressure application, there is another key factor you have to consider: Calculated Cv.
The second question you need to ask when valve sizing is “What is my Cv?”
Again, Cv is the number of gallons of water that will pass through a given flow restriction at a 1 psi differential. You can think of it as the orifice size of a valve.
To calculate your Cv, plug your flow conditions into the Kimray Sizing Calculator. You can also use this video guide to learn how to use this sizing calculator.
Let’s look at two sizing examples.
Your pressure is less than 300 psi and your required Cv is 3 or greater.
In this case, a low pressure regulator should work for a gas application, while a low pressure control valve or mechanical dump valve will work for a liquid application.
Your pressure is still less than 300 psi, but your required Cv is less than 3.
In this example, you should use a Stem Guided High Pressure Control Valve because it can meet the small Cv requirements.
This may sound counter-intuitive to use a high pressure control valve for low pressure, so let’s dig a little further…
Kimray low pressure valves and regulators come with 2 trim options—full port or reduced port—and might be too big for the small flow rates. Kimray 2” stem-guided high pressure control valves come with 9 trim options ranging from ¼” up to 1”. Our 1” stem-guided valve trim options range from 1/8” – ½”.
Stem-guided valves have small Cvs—from .34 to 21. They can handle low flow as well as high pressure drop applications where you have a small Cv requirement.
For larger Cvs and higher pressures, Kimray’s Cage Guided High Pressure Control Valves are full port valves with a Cv range of 28.6 to 1,091.
While our stem-guided valves are available only in 1” and 2” sizes, our cage-guided valves are available in 2" through 10".
We’ve now walked through selecting a new valve. But what about if you have valves on an existing well and conditions change?
A key benefit of Kimray high pressure control valves is their versatility.
For example, if you resize your valve with the new conditions and the calculated Cv does not fit the trim on your existing stem-guided valves, you can swap the trim for a different size. This will keep you from having to change your piping to fit a larger or smaller valve.
Sometimes you will have these numbers in their appropriate units. Other times, however, you will need to perform some conversations to get them into the correct unit.
For example, you may know your flow rate in pounds per hour, but for the sizing tool you need a volume flow rate, such as gallons per minute.
In order to make these conversions easier, we have also created calculators preloaded with the appropriate formulas for converting these numbers. You can convert by entering your pounds per hour and the specific gravity, and the conversion tool will give you the flow rate in gallons per minute.
Download Liquid Conversion CalculatorDownload Gas Conversion Calculator
PSI is one of the most commonly used unit of measure in the United States. Most household sporting goods—from basketballs to bicycle tires—use PSI as their air inflation measurement.
PSI stands for "Pounds per Square Inch."
In oil and gas operations, there are two other units of measurement you may come across that are more specific: PSIA and PSIG.
PSIA stands for "Pounds per Square Inch Absolute." Absolute pressure is pressure relative to zero or absolute vacuum. You may see PSIA used on engineering documents or P&IDs.
PSIG stands for "Pounds per Square Inch Gauge." Gauge pressure is pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. Gauge pressure is what most gauges on your oilfield valves and equipment will show.
The answer is: sometimes.
PSIG is often the default meaning when a PSI unit is presented. For example, your tire pressure is gauge pressure. Likewise, the Kimray back pressure regulator’s gauge reads in PSIG.
An example situation where this may come up is in valve sizing when using the Kimray Sizing Calculator.
If you are referencing a P&ID and it uses PSIA as the unit, you will need to convert PSIA to PSIG to size your valve or regulator appropriately.
Is it possible to convert a number from PSI to PSIA? Or PSIA to PSIG?
You bet. The atmospheric pressure is all we need.
Again, the unit for gauge pressure is PSIG, and for absolute pressure is PSIA. You convert between them by adding or subtracting atmospheric pressure.
1 PSIG = 1 PSIA - atm
and conversely:
1 PSIA = 1 PSIG + atm
At sea level, the pressure of the atmosphere is 14.7.
While you may not be operating at sea level, unless you are at high altitude this is a good estimate to use. (Here's a helpful chart to determine atmospheric pressure at different elevations.)
Using sea level atmospheric pressure (14.7 = atm), this gives us the simple formulas to convert PSI:
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