Pinch valves are ideal in applications involving scale and buildup.

by Todd Loudin, Flowrox

Not all valves are made for every application, but some valves are best at handling the worst
conditions. For this reason, a standard process valve may not function well in difficult, abrasive or
harsh applications. Finding the best valve for more difficult applications may be a time-consuming
and costly exercise.
In many process plants, standard valves may be installed in challenging applications, and they may
perform horribly, needing frequent repair. Those same valves may be modified to improve
performance, or perhaps plant personnel should search for a better designed valve specifically for
the application.
Heavy slurries present challenges in many process industries. Slurries typically involve minerals
that can be abrasive to traditional valves. Abrasive slurries are difficult for conventional valves.
Lime slurry is common in many industriessuch as chemical processing, steel manufacturing, pulp
and paper, mining, and power generation. It can be found in a powder or liquid form. Lime has
different characteristics compared to clean or pure chemicals. It is abrasive and tends to scale in
pipelines, valve components and instruments.

Lime Slurry Characteristics

Limestone is mined from quarries as calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is then crushed and fed into a
kiln at approximately 2,000 F, where the carbon dioxide is burned off (calcining) to make calcium
oxide (CaO).
The CaO is ground into a powder in either a tower mill, spiral classifier or a slaker. Milk of lime is
used for many industrial purposes, such as:

pH control

Paper filler

Power flue gas cleansing

Calcium extraction in food and pharmaceutical applications

Glass manufacturing

Lime particles do not dissolve but are suspended in solution. The particles are jagged and abrasive.
Because lime is suspended in solution, any cracks, crevices or void areas in valves and piping
systems allow for lime particle accumulation. Lime further aggravates this situation because it

hardens in these collection points. The lime changes to a solid mass of material commonly referred
to as scaling. Scaling causes a pipelines inner diameter to become progressively smaller and often
causes valves to freeze in position because of material buildup on the seats and other surfaces.
Because of these characteristics, the use of lime often leads to a long and potentially expensive trial
and error approach to find the best process equipment to handle this substance.
Valve Requirements

Valves and instrumentation that will be used in lime slurry applications should have limited
cavities, cracks and void areas. Even a small collection point can cause certain equipment to seize
and become inoperable, which creates downtime and maintenance issues. Some plant operators
oversize the actuator of plug and ball valves with the hope that this will improve the problem. They
may increase the actuator size so it is capable of having an output that is roughly two times the
normal manufacturers recommended torque requirement in clean liquids. This size increase may
improve performance and downtime that results from sticking valves, but it will not solve all the
maintenance problems.
Ball & Plug Valves

Many ball and plug valves will be severely affected by lime. Using a cobalt-alloy-coated ball or
other hardened materials can help protect valves against abrasion. Valve seats can also be a major
concern, and hardened steel seats with a scraping edge are the best alternative in lime applications.
Scraping hard-coated metals will improve the equipments performance and reduce scaling by
removing material buildup from the ball and plug surfaces.
Most polymeric seats will not stand up over time in lime slurry. The scaling that
occurs in these valves is like a wrecking ball to most polymeric seats. The ball
or plug is turned with the scale buildup through these seats, and their lifetime
is usually short because of this wear. Because these valves have cavities in
which the ball or plug is housed, substantial material may accumulate there
with time. If possible, flushing ports should be installed in the valve so that
water cleans the accumulated material out of the body cavity after each cycle.
To summarize, if ball or plug valves are oversized to double the actuator torque, end users should
include cobalt-alloy seats and all ball or plug surfaces should be made of a cobalt-alloy as well. The
use of effective scraper seats and flushing ports would also improve the valves function.
Building a ball or plug valve including all these features can be expensive. The cost of a ball or
plug valve equipped with these features may be five to six times more expensive than a traditional
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) seated ball or plug valve. Unfortunately, most PTFE seated ball or
plug valves will not perform satisfactorily in lime slurry.

Gate & Knife Gate Valves

Gate valves or knife gates can be used in slurry service. With many gate valves, end users must be
willing to sacrifice tight shut-off when they are used in lime slurry. Most gate valves have a wedge
in which the gate is forced to close the valve. Knife gate valves have a sharpened edge to improve
the ability to cut through solid particles. In lime service, the seating area will accumulate
material/scale, making valve operation and sealing completely against line pressure difficult.
The most effective gate valve for lime slurry is a push-through valve with
substantial rubber seats that allow the accumulation to be discharged from the
bottom of the valve (see Image 2). These knife gates using rubber sleeves are
unique, and the rubber sleeves are the only components that contact the
medium when the valve is open. In some cases, the leading edge of the knife
can be hard surfacedcobalt alloy or some other materialthat is capable of
protecting the softer steel blade.
In traditional metal-to-metal seating knife gate valves, the actuator forces should also be increased
to allow the valve to cut through or close tightly against the lime buildup in the wedge. Finally, a
PTFE-coated gate may be desirable to help prevent the lime from scaling on the gate and the
sticking of the gate itself.
If the gate is not coated with PTFE, end users may experience scale buildup on the knife, and this
will most likely result in packing problems. The scale will accumulate on the knife, and as the knife
is opened, the scale buildup will be dragged through the packing. This will result in increased
forces required to open the valve. Also, the packing may be severely damaged as this material is
dragged across it. In most knife gates in lime applications, end users will experience significant
packing leaks.
Pinch Valves

Because of their straight-through design with no crevices or cavities for material collection, pinch
valves are a good solution for lime service. A pinch valve is an effective device that self-cleans
scale. How does a pinch valve self-clean? Inside a pinch valve, a rubber tube or sleeve is pinched
by steel bars on the centerline of the valve to close it. To close the pinch valve, the rubber sleeve,
which is full bore, begins to stretch. As it begins to stretch, the material or scale buildup begins to
flake. As the sleeve continues to close the valve, the flaking increases, but the fluid velocity also
increases substantially. Therefore, the flaked material/scale is blasted with higher velocity flow
from the elastic surface of the rubber sleeve.

Pinch valves also help prevent abrasion. Rubber is often used in handling abrasive materials.
Common uses are in rubber lined pipes, pump linings and wear points or high velocity points in
various processes.
When selecting equipment for systems moving abrasive media, designers and end users have two
options. The first is to make the valve and piping materials of construction much harder than the
pumped media.
The second approach is to make the construction materials softer. Softer materials allow the
abrasive particles to bounce off the surface without damaging it. For this reason, pinch valves have
been used in mining applications that involve very coarse slurries. In any mineral based slurry,
pinch valves are a viable option for protection against abrasion.
Also, a pinch valve offers the greatest protection against the clogging or jamming that occurs with
other valves. Many valvessuch as ball valves with harder coatingsmay be able to withstand the
abrasiveness of lime slurry. However, they are prone to jamming or clogging from material
collection or scaling.
Pinch valves must be selected carefully. All pinch valves are not created equally. With ball valves
and plug valves, stainless steel or carbon steel does not vary greatly from one reputable
manufacturer to another. As long as end users select a reputable ball or plug valve provider, they
will probably have a valve that is free of porosity or imperfections. Some ball or plug valves have
modified designs that enhance performance in difficult services.
A pinch valve or diaphragm that has a preset weir may decrease valve performance substantially. A
nonflexible weir will accumulate scale, and since it does not flex, it will result in increased wear to
the rubber sleeve. Also, the nonflexible weir defeats the self-cleaning effects of pinch valves. The
ideal solution is a pinch valve or diaphragm valve that pinches or closes from both the top and
bottom simultaneously, meeting at the center line. This will ensure the proper cleaning of any
scaling. A diaphragm valves diaphragm is typically one-third the thickness of a typical pinch valve
sleeve. In addition, a diaphragm only has a fraction of the reinforcement cords found in pinch valve
sleeves.
Pinch valves can differ greatly. Their rubber quality and properties can vary from one manufacturer
to another.
A good analogy is the purchase of automobile tires. A driver has the option to purchase either a
40,000-mile rated set of tires or an 80,000-mile rated set of tires. Side by side these tires will look

almost identical. However, the life of the 80,000-mile rated tire will certainly cost more and provide
more than two times the useful life.
Regarding pinch valves, if end users have tried them in the past and have been unhappy with their
performance, then perhaps they selected a poor-quality pinch valve. They should try again with a
different manufacturer, because not all pinch valves are poor quality. A high quality pinch valve can
typically handle lime slurries without any special product enhancements.
The Price of Poor Valve Choice

Many companies try to force their standard valves into applications in which they do not belong.
Obviously in a large process plant, standardizing products as much as possible is desired.
This cuts costs in spare parts, the training of plant personnel and the ease of continued operations.
What many of these large process plants fail to recognize is that this practice may cost more.
By using a product more suited to a slurry process, one process plant was able to double its mean
time between failures. It had 22 control valves in its process. The five-year operating costs
excluding the cost of downtime of the previously used 22 control valveswas $242,000. By
replacing these valves with better-suited pinch control valves, the five-year cost was reduced to
only $55,000. The maintenance staff could then focus on more critical process improvements.
The financial ramifications of poor valve selection, instrumentation and piping for slurry processes
can have a long-term negative impact on most operations. Even though a simple lime slurry control
loop for pH control in many chemical plants is a small portion of the process, it may be a large
drain on maintenance costs. Process valves and instrumentation for this part of a process should be
chosen carefully.
Process plants can select from a wide array of valves to be used in lime slurry. This article did not
exclude any types of valves intentionally. Instead, it focused on the types of valves that are more
commonly used in lime slurry and those that also offer recommendations that may help improve
valve performance regardless of the type selected. A little time invested on the purchase of the
correct valve for slurry service can result in substantial savings in the future.

Best Solution for Handling Lime Slurry

Mon, 11/08/2010 - 5:43amCommentsby TODD LOUDIN, President, Larox Flowsys North America
Larox_5Lime is used by a large majority of the chemical process industry in either a
powder or liquid form. Engineering and maintenance personnel often face a long and potentially
expensive trial-and-error period in order to find the best process equipment to handle lime.
Limestone is mined from a quarry in the form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Then it is crushed
and fed into a kiln at approximately 2,000 F, where the carbon dioxide is burned off (calcining)
to make calcium oxide (CaO).
CaO is ground into a powder in a tower mill, a spiral classifier, or a slaker. The milk of the ground
lime is used for many industrial purposes including pH control, power flue-gas cleansing, calcium
extraction in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and more. One of the most common uses of lime in
the chemical process industry is pH control.
Lime is extremely difficult to handle in piping systems, instrumentation, and valves because its
particles are very jagged and will not dissolve, but rather merely suspended in solution. Any
cracks or crevices will cause the lime particles to fall out of suspension and fill these voids. Lime
further aggravates this situation when it hardens in these collection points. The lime changes its
state to a solid mass of material commonly referred to as scaling. Scaling causes a pipeline's
inner diameter to become smaller and smaller. Material buildup on valve seats and other
surfaces can cause the valves to freeze in position.
Tips for Lime Service
Process equipment, instrumentation, and valves selected for use in lime slurry systems should
limit cavities, cracks and void areas. Even a small collection point of lime can cause equipment
failure and countless hours of downtime and maintenance.
The ideal product to supplement lime slurry should be able to clean itself and break apart
scale. It should also be completely free of void spaces, cracks, and cavities. A piping product
installed in a lime slurry system should be full port in order to limit obstruction and potential
lime slurry buildup.
A significantly oversized actuator is a typical initiative for increasing plug and ball valve
performance in lime slurry systems. Because the size of the actuator is increased, the output
capability is roughly two times the normal manufacturer's recommended torque for clean liquids.
An oversized actuator may improve performance while decreasing downtime as a result of
sticking valves, but it will not solve all related maintenance problems. Because lime is very
abrasive, it affects most ball and plug valves severely. A hard material cover such as stellite
coating on the ball will help protect the valve against the abrasive nature of lime.

The seats also are a major concern. Again, hardened-steel seats with a scraping edge are most
likely the best alternative in lime applications. "Scraping" hard-coated metals will perform better
in scaling substances because they have the ability to scrape built-up material off the ball and
plug surfaces.
Most polymeric seats will not maintain durability over time in lime slurry. The scaling that occurs
in these valves is like a wrecking ball to most polymeric seats. The ball or plug with scale buildup
is turned through these seats, usually resulting in a short lifetime. Because ball and plug valves
have cavity areas that house the ball or plug, a substantial amount of material accumulates in
this void area over time. It is beneficial to install flushing ports in the valve so that the body
cavity area can be cleansed water to wipe out material accumulation after each cycle. This
process will help minimize material buildup in the cavity area.
It is expensive to build a ball or plug valve with the all of the previously mentioned features. The
cost of a ball or plug valve equipped with these features can be five to six times the price of a
traditional Teflon-seated ball or plug valve. Unfortunately, however, the performance of most
Teflon-seated ball or plug valves in lime slurry is less that satisfactory.
Gate & Knife Gate Valves
Gate and knife gate valves can be used in many slurry services. Most gate valves force the gate
into a wedge area to close the valve, so tight shutoff is not always guaranteed.
Knife gate valves have a sharpened edge to improve the ability to cut through solid particles. In
lime service, the seating area is a spot for material accumulation. The lime will accumulate in
this area, causing difficulties in valve operation, which could prevent sealing the valve
completely against the line pressure.
The ideal knife gate valve for lime service features a hard-surfaced leading knife edge. Actuator
forces in knife gates should be increased to give the valve the ability to cut through or close
tightly against the lime buildup in the wedge.
The knife of the knife gate is exposed to scaling and the scale buildup on the knife is most likely
accumulated from packing problems in knife gates. As the knife opens, the scale buildup is
dragged through the packing, which requires increased forces to open the valve. In most
instances, there significant packing leaks occur.
Utilizing knife gates in lime slurry service requires a scraping packing material. This material
should be a hardened substance that has the ability to scrape the knife clean with every
operation. The knife gate valve should have increased actuator forces that are capable of
dragging the knife through the packing material.
Pinch Valves
Pinch valves are an efficient solution for lime slurry service because they have a straight-through
design with no crevices or cavities for material collection. Pinch valves have a proficient selfcleaning effect on scaling materials.

A rubber tube or sleeve is pinched by steel bars on the centerline of the valve, causing it to
close. Upon stretching the rubber sleeve, it begins to reach the closing position and the material
or scale buildup flakes. As the valve is being closed, the flaking becomes greater, but the fluid
velocity increases substantially. Thus, the flaked material or scale is pressure washed from the
elastic surface of the rubber sleeve.
Pinch valves also address abrasion concerns. When dealing with abrasive flows, there are two
options. The first is to make the ball, plug, or gate valve and piping materials much more hard
and durable. The second approach is to make the valve or piping material softer. Softer
materials allow the abrasive particles to bounce off the surface without destroying it.
Larox_2For this reason, pinch valves have been used in mining applications on very
coarse slurries for the past 30 years. With any mineral-based slurry, pinch valves are a very
viable option for protecting against abrasion. A pinch valve also offers protection against
clogging or jamming that can occur with other valves in lime slurry service. Many valves such as
ball valves with stellite or harder coatings may be able to withstand the abrasiveness of lime
slurry. However, they are subject to jamming or clogging because they have cavities that allow
for material collection.
Pinch valve selection must be performed very carefully and with due diligence. Stainless steel or
carbon steel ball valves and plug valves do not vary greatly from one reputable manufacturer to
another. Choosing one of the "more reputable" ball or plug valves, will most likely guarantee a
valve free from porosity or imperfections. In addition, some ball or plug valves have modified
designs to enhance performance in difficult services.
Pinch valves, however, can vary greatly from one another, and rubber quality and properties can
differ drastically from one manufacturer to another. A comparable analogy is purchasing
automobile tires with the option of either a 30,000-mile set of tires or an 80,000-mile set. Side
by side, these tires look almost identical, but the 80,000-mile-rated tire certainly will cost
more. The price increase secures two times the useful life of an inferior tire.
My point regarding pinch valves is that if you have tried them in the past and have been
unhappy with product performance, then perhaps the make you selected was simply "inferior."
You might wish to give pinch valves another try with a different make and manufacturer. Good
designs are available, and reputable companies will stand behind their products after the initial
sale. A high-quality pinch valve typically handles lime slurries without any special product
enhancements.
A pinch valve or diaphragm that has a preset weir could decrease valve performance quite
substantially, however. This nonflexible weir will accumulate scale; because it does not flex, it
will result in increased wear to the rubber sleeve. The nonflexible weir also defeats the selfcleaning effects of pinch valves.
Is It a Fit?

I have noticed that many manufacturers and valve users try to force their standard valves into
applications in which they do not belong. Obviously, a large process plant tries to standardize
products as much as possible in order to cut costs with spare parts and personnel training.
However, what many large plants fail to recognize is that this practice may in turn prove to be
very costly. I recall a situation where a company was using a standardized control valve that
needed repairing every six months. However, when they finally switched to a product that was
more suited for a slurry process, the plant was able to double its mean time between failures.
The plant had 22 control valves in this process. The five-year operating cost of the previously
used 22 control valves, excluding the cost of downtime, was $242,000. By replacing these valves
with better-suited slurry control valves, the five-year cost was reduced to only $55,000.
The financial ramifications of improper valve, instrumentation, and piping selection for processes
such as lime slurry can have a long-term negative impact on most operations. Although a simple
lime slurry control loop for pH control in many chemical plants is a very small portion of the
process, it can be a large drain on operating costs. Plant decision-makers would be wise to
choose process valves and instrumentation for this portion of the process carefully.
Chemical process plants can select from a wide array of valves for use in lime slurry service. I
did not exclude any types of valves intentionally. I attempted to focus on the types of valves
more commonly used in lime slurry, as well as to offer recommendations that might help
improve valve performance, regardless of which type of valve is selected. Improper valve
selection for lime slurry service can have a significant negative effect on continued operating
costs. A larger up-front investment could result in quite substantial savings in the future.
Loudin is president of Larox Flowsys Inc. For more information, please e-mail him
at todd.loudin@larox.usor visit www.larox.fi.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR
SELECTING VALVES FOR LIME
SLURRY SERVICE
By Todd Loudin
Lime is widely used in the municipal water industry and can be very difficult to manage
because of scale formation. Valves and related equipment used in lime slurry service
need to be selected carefully to limit system maintenance and the potential for system
failure.

Limestone is mined from a quarry as Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). It then crushed and
fed into a kiln at ~2000 F. The carbon dioxide is burned off (called calcining) to make
calcium oxide (CaO). Lime is often used as a slurry and is referred to as milk of lime. It is
used by many industrial processes such as flue gas cleansing, pH control, calcium
extraction in pharmaceutical manufacturing and more. Probably the most common use is
for pH control.

Pinch valves from Larox Flowsys

are often used in lime slurry
service.
Click here to enlarge image

The reason lime is so difficult for many types of equipment is that lime does not dissolve
but rather is suspended in solution. Lime particles are also extremely jagged. Any cracks,
crevices or void areas become natural collection or settling points for the lime particles.
The particles settle and then solidify to create an extremely heavy scale. If these areas
happen to be around moving parts of, for instance, a valve or a pump then they may no
longer be free to move. Lime also forms scale on the interior of piping, with the pipes
diameter shrinking smaller and smaller as the scale increases.
Process equipment selected for use in lime slurry should be as free as possible of void
areas or collection points. The products should also have the capability to self clean
themselves when lime build-up occurs. A typical lime slurry control loop and pumping
station can be a significant draw on maintenance dollars if the wrong products are
selected. Full port is a grand idea in lime slurry. Even a small crack or crevice can cause
countless hours of maintenance and downtime.

Pinch Valves
Depending on design, pinch valves perform well in lime slurry service. They incorporate
a straight through design which has no pockets or cavities for material collection points.
Also, since the rubber sleeve flexes it creates a self cleaning effect. As the rubber sleeve
starts to close the rubber is stretched, thus flaking the scale build up. Then, as the sleeve
closes further, the line pressure and fluid velocity increase across the restricted area
creating a washing effect of the scaled material. Virtually no lime is left on the valves
sleeve surface.
Not all pinch valves operate in the correct manor to insure this occurs. Some pinch
valves only pinch from the top, pushing the top of the rubber sleeve all the way to the
bottom. In these valves the bottom part of the sleeve does not flex, so build up may
remain on the lower section. The best pinch valve would be one that is dual closing on
the valves centerline. This insures the best cleaning of the rubber sleeve.
One caution is that pinch valves are manufactured from rubber compounds. There are
thousands of variations in rubber manufacturing. An example would be when you go to a
tire store and buy a 40,000 mile rated tire or an 80,000 mile rated tire. There is a
difference in price and also a difference in performance. You can certainly find similar
situations from one pinch valve manufacturer to another.
If you have tried pinch valves many years ago and were unhappy with the performance
then, dont give up on the technology. There are reputable pinch valve manufacturers
with quality products. Your first unsuccessful purchase was probably an inferior product.

Ball, plug valves

If you determine a ball valve or a plug valve is the right choice for your lime system then
there are multiple steps you should take. First of all, if the valve is actuated then you
should double the manufacturers required torque of the actuator to be able to break
through the scale build up that will occur on these valves. Secondly you should have
flushing ports in the valve body to allow flushing of the ball or plug cavity area after
every operation.
You should not use a Teflon seated valve. Teflon will be destroyed in a very short order in
lime slurry. The scale build up on the plug and or ball in these valves acts like a wrecking
ball to most polymeric seats. Stellite seats and stellite coating on the plug or ball would
provide the best result in lime slurry service. If the manufacturer offers a scraping seat,
then that would be wise.

Gate, Knife Gate Valves

With gate and knife gate valves you must be ready for a certain amount of leakage that
will occur through these types of valves. Even the best types do not stay tight forever.
Probably the best selection would be a knife gate with a cutting edge to the gate which
can cut and/or break up lime scale. Still, this seating area will be an accumulation point
for the lime slurry and will likely create problems. A hard faced or stellited gate or
leading edge of the gate should be employed.
Again actuator torques on these valves should be increased substantially. The knife or
the gate will be subjected to scale build up which will be dragged through their packing
area. This will most likely result in leakage from the packing over time. The dragging of
scale through this area will require the additional actuator forces to insure proper closing
and opening of the valve.

About the Author:

Todd Loudin is president of Larox Flowsys Inc., Linthicum