Acid Resistant Valves At Everlasting Valve Company

Did you know that nitric acid can dissolve steel in a few hours? When working with acid, safety is everything. Acid will not only damage metal and equipment, but it’s also a serious hazard to people’s health. This is why it’s important to use acid valves in a system to prevent corrosion. To prevent acid from corroding a valve, you must know as much as possible about it. Read on below to learn about the corrosion of metal in more detail and understand its impact on acid resistant valves.

What Is Metal Corrosion?

To understand the seriousness of a failed acid valve, let’s explain what metal corrosion is. Without diving into the science too much, metal corrosion is when metal breaks down. The process starts with chemical reactions between the metal and the environment. Two factors impact the speed and seriousness of corrosion. The first is the type of metal and the second is the environment. As you can imagine, if chemical reactions cause metal corrosion, a metal acid valve is under a lot of pressure from the chemicals in the acid.

Types of Corrosion

There are several different types of corrosion. Some are more serious than others. When engineering effective valves that resist acid, it’s vital to understand the factors that lead to corrosion in all its forms. Below are two of the most common types of corrosion:

Uniform Corrosion

Uniform corrosion is one of the most common types of corrosion. The entire surface of a metal is impacted. Uniform corrosion is relevant to acid valves because chemical reactions are frequently the cause of this degradation.

Crevice Corrosion

As a type of localized corrosion, crevice corrosion concentrates on a very specific area. The corrosion happens around gaps and, as the name suggests, crevices. Crevice corrosion can occur between two joints or when material builds up.

This is very serious for acid valves, as the presence of stagnant liquid increases the risk of crevice corrosion. Our process valve designs minimize the risk of crevice corrosion by joining metals effectively and managing acid movement through the valve properly.

Why Does Metal Corrosion Happen?

Most of the time, metal isn’t mined out of the ground in its natural state. Humans create most metals with a huge amount of heat energy. Multiple, natural, metal compounds get joined together in furnaces to create what most of us think of as metal.

The problem is that the energy in these metals isn’t stable anymore. Corrosion happens when the electrons in the metal can return to the environment. Over time, the metal loses the energy that created it.

What Are the Dangers of Metal Corrosion on Acid Valves?

Particularly in an industrial setting, valve failure could release a significant volume of acid.

If acid gets released from a failed valve, people in the immediate vicinity are in danger. Secondly, if the acid seeps into the environment, there is a risk to wildlife. Furthermore, if it makes its way into a watercourse, significant environmental and societal damage can occur.

Lastly, an acid leak in equipment will eventually lead to its failure. The impact of equipment failure is quite wide, from loss of income to a public health risk.

Keep Your System Acid Safe

Acid resistant valves are incredibly important for an acid safe system. Using the right valves is the difference between success, failure, and catastrophe.

Corrosion is the bane of many industrial processes. If a business has to deal with acidic compounds, especially liquids, then they must also prepare to combat the ever obscured expense that is corrosion maintenance.

Unfortunately, valves tend to be a point of weakness when it comes to corrosion. They come into frequent contact with the compounds in a given process. Luckily, Everlasting Valve Company has a solution for you: acid resistant valves (often just called acid valves).

Our acid resistant valves are designed to reliably, consistently operate in challenging environments. They do not just withstand acid; they work through temperature extremes, varying pressures, getting better with every actuation. As the rotating disc, self-lapping action takes place the seal tightens and any material, including acid, is pushed away.

How Serious Is Metal Corrosion?

If you’re newer to an industry where working with corrosive compounds is the norm, you may not fully grasp the cost of metal corrosion. Practically any industry that works with metal must deal with corrosion. But, working with acids rapidly accelerates what can already be a fast process.

As metal corrodes, the integrity of the metal weakens. For a metal support, this may lead to collapse. For pipes, this may lead to leakage and bursting.

As for valves, the cost of failure will depend on the purpose of the valve and the way in which it fails. Assuming your company is using the valve to monitor the flow of an acidic compound of some kind, the cost will usually be significant. Even a minor failure could mean tens of thousands in damages and a serious health hazard to employees.

Issues like these are what contribute to the estimated 270+ billion dollar cost of metal corrosion each year. Corrosion is a huge expense in dozens of sectors; if you’re working with acids, you must prepare.

Why Acid Resistant Valves Are Important

Many acids used in industrial settings can be extremely dangerous if not controlled. When using chemicals like hydrofluoric acid, which is used in refinery and chemical plants, the utmost care is crucial.

Valves are commonly a part of acid holding tank isolation. These valves need to maintain absolute isolation even in high temperatures and at high pressures, over long periods. It is a challenge for many valves to meet, and not a job for a generic, inexpensive valve.

Much like operators working with these materials protect themselves, valves must be protected too. The challenge is creating a valve that can resist substances that are capable of destroying most materials.

Valves are sensitive to even the smallest amounts of acid corrosion. Some valves are designed to withstand it as much as possible but ultimately, eventually fail. When valves are corroded due to acid or other harsh materials there can be leaks, contamination, and safety risks. Our valves help you eliminate acid corrosion instead of working around it.

We understand how critical acid resistant valves are, and why our clients are concerned that their valves meet stringent requirements. We work hard to pass every customer’s recommended practices plan and/or other safety concerns. Every acid resistant valve we make is carefully checked and tested, ensuring it will serve its purpose safely.

How Our Valves Work

Our valves are the world’s original self-lapping, rotating disc valve, designed for severe service. We believe that every industrial valve should be tougher than the environment it is in, and our acid valves showcase that principle.

You can use our acid resistant valves to replace any common valve type. Where globe, needle, plug, ball, check, relief, or butterfly valves are used in your plant, an Everlasting valve is an easy, effective swap.

Abrasives, solids, and other materials flow through the valve body without jamming. The rotating disc cycles through, cleanly discharging any accumulated media. While this happens, the sealing surface of the disc is in constant contact with the seat. All together this renews and polishes the seating, and tightens the seal.

These acid valves come to you with a tight, polished seal, eliminating the risk of leaks. Any time the valve is used, its mechanism works to improve the valve. So, our valves wear in instead of out, even when used with acids.

Of course, each valve is made with materials that will resist acids and other potentially damaging materials. You can rest assured that Everlasting Valve Company’s products are the perfect fit for your plant. A great deal of expert engineering work has gone into making sure our corrosion resistant valves last where other valves fail.

If you believe your environment calls for something we do not offer, we can create a custom design specific to your needs. We know that our clients want to feel absolutely certain that materials like acids are handled effectively. That’s why we work closely with our customers on every custom job, providing exactly what you need based on our proven design.

The Benefits Of Our Acid Resistant Valves

When valves fail it is always a problem, but if they fail in handling acids, the effects could be lethal. At best, acid valve failure will result in a costly, frustrating shutdown while workers deal with the issue. Industrial downtime can stretch into millions of dollars of lost profit, very quickly.

The other challenging part of working with valves is maintenance requirements, again which can shut a plant down for repair or servicing. Our valves are literally designed to be everlasting, with some remaining in service after many decades. When you use our acid resistant valves you will experience a major reduction in maintenance requirements, and virtually end the need for repairs.

Everlasting acid resistant valves offer unparalleled value. While they may cost more up front than a lesser-quality valve, you will not have to worry about repairing or replacing these valves. That is on top of the continuous service they offer, without downtime or lost productivity.

For a quote, to get more information, or to learn more about our acid resistant valves, get in touch with us. Call us at 908.769.0700, email [email protected]. Alternatively, send us a request for quote form online.