A corn processing plant in the US was experiencing difficulties with a critical valve used for controlling fiber-laden corn syrup in its ethanol manufacturing process. Two factors in particular were making it tough to achieve consistent control.
High vibrations prevent accurate control
Due to the nature of the ethanol manufacturing process, high vibrations prevented the positioner from accurately controlling the valve’s position. In addition, the engineers desired to improve Cv, as the valve was continuously operating at 80-90% open.
To address these issues, a V-port segment valve was recommended from Neles’ control valve offering. This valve has an economical, high-performance quarter-turn design, and it comes with a variety of trim options. These options range from standard and low Cv trims for general applications to proprietary Q-Trim® for reducing aerodynamic noise and preventing cavitation.
Reaching better performance
To meet the specific requirements of this plant’s manufacturing process, Neles’ engineers carefully sized the V-ported segment valve according to the process characteristics. This allowed the plant to reach its required Cv rating and improve control performance.
The V-port segment valve was paired with Neles’ ND9100 intelligent valve controller, which is designed to operate in all industries and on every pneumatic control valve actuator. Environments involving high vibration are not a problem, as it has been designed to operate with high precision, even in high vibration conditions. In addition, its unique diagnostics provide a solid foundation for performance optimization and predictive maintenance.
Sizing more opportunities
After the new solution was completely implemented, the problems caused by the vibrations disappeared and the valve began to provide consistent control at 52-63% open. The corn processor immediately commissioned other critical valves in the plant to be sized.
Text originally published in 2014, and slightly updated in April 2022, due to the company name change to Valmet.
Written by Sari Aronen.
