valveThe development process of the industry has gone through ups and downs, with ups and downs along the way. In this arduous development process, most enterprises have withstood the test and established a foundation, but it is only the beginning. The road ahead is still long. If the valve industry wants to become bigger and stronger, how should it take the next step and be prepared for danger in times of peace? Examine many issues worth exploring in the valve industry.

　The development of major markets for valves

　1. Oil and gas industry

In North America and some developed countries, there are many planned and expanded oil projects. In addition, due to the increasing emphasis on environmental protection and the establishment of environmental regulations, refineries established many years ago must be renovated. Therefore, in the coming years, investment in oil development and refining will continue to grow. The construction of China's oil and gas long-distance pipelines, as well as the future construction of Russia's long-distance pipelines, will directly promote the growth of the valve market in the petroleum industry. As shown in Figure 2, based on the long-term development of the oil and gas development and transportation valve market, it is predicted that the demand for valves in oil and gas development and transportation will increase from 8.2 billion US dollars in 2002 to 14 billion US dollars in 2005.

　2. Energy industry

For a long time, the energy industry has beenvalveThe demand has maintained a solid and stable growth rate. *The total power generation of the constructed thermal and nuclear power plants is 2679030MW, the power generation in the United States is 743391MW, and the power generation of new power plant projects in other countries around the world is 780000MW, which will increase by 40% in the next few years. The energy markets in Europe, South America, Asia, and especially China, will become new growth points for the valve market. From 2002 to 2005, the demand for valve products in the energy market will increase from 5.2 billion US dollars to 6.9 billion US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 9.3%.

　3. Chemical industry

The chemical industry ranks first in the industrial sector with a production value of over 1.5 trillion US dollarsvalveOne of the largest demand markets. The chemical industry requires mature, high-quality, and rare materials for industrial valves. In recent years, the competition in the chemical industry market has become extremely fierce, and many chemicals have had to cut cost expenditures. However, in 2003-2004, the output value and profits of the chemical industry doubled, and the demand for valve products reached a new peak in the past 30 years. After 2005, the demand for valve products in the chemical industry will grow at an annual rate of 5%.

　The impact of oil and gas industry on valve technology

Although the range of valve products involved in the development and transportation of oil and natural gas has remained largely unchanged over the past century, valve manufacturers have continuously updated their valve technologies and actively responded to changes in the oil and gas industry market. If valve manufacturers want to maintain or not be left behind in the market, they need to constantly update their technology and processes for valve, service, and sales. The fact is that oil companies have increasingly higher requirements for valve manufacturers: on the basis of providing reasonable prices, valve manufacturers must be good at solving the problems faced by oil companies, extending the performance of valve products and providing more service capabilities in harsher working environments and stricter environmental requirements.

(1) The demand for oil and natural gas in the world market for metal seals is growing rapidly, and the development of crude oil has also traveled to every corner of the earth. The extraction of crude oil has put forward new requirements for equipment. For example, ultra deep well technology poses challenges to equipment in terms of ultra-low temperature and ultra-high pressure. The extraction of ultra heavy crude oil is a profitable option, especially when the price per barrel reaches $30. The high concentration of asphaltene and other impurities now poses difficulties for the transportation of crude oil. The soft sealed ball valves commonly used on oil pipelines cannot meet the requirements of working conditions. This requires valve manufacturers to develop metal sealed ball valves that can adapt to changes in temperature and pressure, and even ensure sealing when transporting solid media such as hydroxides and coke. The metal sealing technology benefits from the development of surface spraying technology. Valve manufacturers hope to use this technology to maintain their market position and include spray coating technology in their development strategies. They collaborate with research institutes and universities to develop the next generation of "superhard" coatings.

(2) In 2002, the American Petroleum Institute standard API6D stipulated that valve products with pressures higher than ASME Class 600 must be protected against "explosion pressure reduction". Explosion decompression refers to the phenomenon where when the pressure inside a valve rapidly drops, CO2 seeping into the seal due to high pressure rapidly expands due to the pressure drop, causing seal rupture and breakage during the valve closing process, resulting in valve failure. An oil company discovered valve explosion and pressure reduction on a deep-sea platform * times. After the valve failed, the company had to stop operations for several weeks to replace it, resulting in heavy losses. From now on, oil companies require valve manufacturers to provide high-pressure valves with anti explosion pressure relief configurations. Quickly, valve manufacturers responded by developing anti explosion pressure reducing seals and anti explosion pressure reducing valves to meet stringent environmental requirements.

(3) The corrosion of sulfur-containing crude oil and the rising crude oil prices have led refining companies to focus on sulfur-containing crude oil. Investing in the development of the sulfur-containing crude oil market is highly profitable and also provides a price competitive advantage in long-term supply contracts. However, sulfur-containing crude oil contains corrosive media such as H2S, which poses new challenges to the corrosion resistance of equipment. Valve manufacturers can provide materials licensed according to ISO15156 regulations, as well as test data (in accordance with ISO15156 regulations) to demonstrate the corrosion resistance and long service life of valve materials. End users will include these valve manufacturers in the list of corrosion-resistant valve suppliers.

(4) ISO 15848 specifies the requirements for valve runaway emissions, and the packing and sealing arrangements for ordinary and special valves have been revised to adapt to the updated standards. However, the new standards are too general and the requirements are too strict, so many oil companies have developed their own emission standards, such as many North American companies referring to the provisions of API622 standard. The further improvement of valve runaway emission standards requires cooperation among valve manufacturers, users, and standard setters, mutual learning of experience, and joint solutions.

(5) In pursuit of economic benefits, many refining enterprises operate at overload due to premature wear and equipment fatigue. The result is endless expansion of equipment and renovation of systems. The expectations of enterprises for equipment greatly exceed their original intentions, which requires valve manufacturers to be proactive and participate in various user work to avoid adverse effects of unreasonable processes on valve reliability, lifespan, and safety. For example, valves used in thermal cycle systems can easily cause thermal fatigue of parts. Valve operators with industrial process experience will arrange valves reasonably to reduce the possibility of problems occurring.

(6) Preventive maintenance is required for oil companies to arrange equipment maintenance cycles in order to ensure safety. With the development of valve testing systems, electronic hardware, and software, preventive maintenance of valves has evolved from an intelligent concept to a reality. A small group of valve manufacturers proficient in automation control provide data analysis systems to quantify valve operation processes and provide preventive maintenance time for valves.

(7) The automation of the refining process by automatic actuators is the trend, and the control technology involved has been developed for a considerable period of time. Valve manufacturers install automatic actuators on valves to meet the requirements of automatic control. The technology of automatic actuators has made great progress. On the other hand, manufacturers of actuators also provide users with valve products with actuators installed. Therefore, the trend of integrating actuators and valves poses a challenge to a single business, as users hope to find a company to solve problems more easily and avoid disputes.

(8) The pipeline ball valve natural gas transportation pipeline engineering is a very large and promising market for valves. Monitoring of long-distance pipelines is crucial. Some companies have developed intelligent devices that users can use to detect pipelines. For example, the "smartpig" technology. This type of robot can detect the thickness of pipe walls and even corrosion points. However, the detection device has a requirement for the diameter of the pipeline, so the diameter ball valve has become a product of the long-distance pipeline company. On the other hand, long-distance pipelines require valves to have as thin a wall thickness as possible, and valve materials to have high yield toughness and corrosion resistance to meet the requirements of pipeline expansion, turning, and regional environmental changes. The most important point is that the managers of long-distance pipelines require that the lifespan of the valves purchased must be longer than the lifespan of the pipeline itself.