DVA’s High Pressure Knife Gate Valve sleeves replace OEM sleeves after extensive site trials

High pressure knife gate valve sleeves from Dual Valves Australasia (DVA) were used to replace OEM rated sleeves recently at an alumina refinery in Western Australia.

The WA alumina refinery replaced a number of their 21 Bar rated OEM push-through style knife gate valve sleeves with sleeves from DUAL’s high pressure knife gate valves following comprehensive site trials that reported a tenfold increase in lifespan to date when using DUAL’s DHPSKG sleeves.

According to Justin Mirto of Dual Valves Australasia, the client’s 21 Bar rated OEM knife gate valves were consistently failing after only four weeks in operation in the worst reported applications. The refinery then decided to extensively trial a number of their knife gate valves retrofitted with DUAL’s DHPSKG sleeves after DVA confirmed their suitability and dimensional fit.

An initial set of four valves was retrofitted with DUAL’s DHPSKG sleeves, and installed in specific areas where the OEM sleeves were consistently failing after only four weeks in operation. Reports from the client indicated the trial valves performed well for over 12 months.

Encouraged by the performance of the sleeves, the refinery embarked on a program to refurbish all the OEM valves with DUAL’s DHPSKG sleeves as and when they failed in an ongoing exercise. The refinery has a reliable stock of rebuilt valves sitting in their stores awaiting deployment.

Listing out the benefits, Justin Mirto said that the factory has gained from lower ownership costs; reduced downtime; and higher morale among the maintenance crew.

He adds that DUAL’s longstanding philosophy of offering customers high performance with excellent value has certainly paid off for this client; DUAL expects to see more end-users challenge the reliability and performance of their existing OEM push-through style high pressure knife gate valves as similar reports gradually filter through the industry.