How MMT’s novel design has transformed dirty service

Customer-centric thinking propelled our engineering team to a game-changing control valve trim for those working in offshore production, refineries and power generation.

Crude oil extraction is challenging at the best of times. But it’s particularly difficult when an oil field matures because mature sites tend to produce crude with properties that differ from those of newly drilled sites.

The oil produced has a higher proportion of heavier hydrocarbons, is usually more viscous, and is filled with contaminants, such as silt and sand. As it moves through pipework, a platform’s valves can degrade and eventually seize, taking production facilities offline for hours or days at a time.

This is a problem that IMI’s Valve Doctors have been able to solve with the development of a novel, self-cleaning valve trim called MMT. And it’s perhaps the best example of how we respond to our customers’ most persistent flow control challenges.

What is MMT?

MMT – or EroSolve Metamorphic Trim – is a novel approach to flow control taking advantage of the latest advances in additive manufacturing.

Controlling high-pressure drops calls for muti-stage trim technology, but this can be problematic when the fluid is particularly sticky or contaminated. Up to now, the resulting valve selection has had to compromise between resistance to erosion and cavitation, controllability and resistance to clogging. Sometimes, this compromise calls for two valves to be used in split range due to the inability of a single valve to fulfil all operative requirements.While effective to some degree, this approach demands ongoing calibration and a higher maintenance requirement. It’s particularly challenging for dirty service simply because of the sheer volume of unwanted – and often damaging – material passing through during extraction.

While speaking to our customers, it became clear that an entirely new design was required – one that blended the best of IMI’s flow control knowledge with the possibilities opened up by 3D printing. Our team achieved this by combining the advantages of two existing technologies: multiturn-multipath and cascade trim.

The new design offers several advantages housed in a single unit, such as improved velocity control, enhanced minimum flow control and a protected seat design. The same valve, in fact, behaves in different ways at each different percentage opening. This allows the designer to adapt fluid flow channels to the specific condition the valve will experience at each opening. Each flow channel geometry is changed at several points while stroking the valve into a new position, and this is the reason behind its name: flow channels experience a metamorphosis with plug stroking, adapting to the specific flow requirements.

This is why MMT can tackle most fluid control problems (e.g. cavitation, erosion, clogging, flashing, particle contamination, rangeability, low flow control, and even low shear) simultaneously. MMT technology offers engineers the freedom to select the flow channel geometry that best suits the flow condition with a design freedom that has no precedent in other valve technologies. Of course, it is also hugely complex in terms of modelling geometry and in calculating its expected performance.Perhaps most importantly, MMT is also self-cleaning. This is achieved by a large flow channel throughout the entire trim, with passage sizes up to 30mm that allow large particles to pass without requiring expensive filters.

Immediate impact in Norway

MMT has already had a significant impact at customer sites across the world, with many production managers specifically requesting the technology for different sites after an initial demonstration.

Arguably, the greatest transformation can be seen at a major oil and gas platform off the coast of Norway. This particular platform’s life was extended beyond its original window due to improvements to its enhanced oil recovery system.While good for business, this extension introduced its own set of challenges, particularly for the site’s hydrocyclone unit. The three valves installed at the separators were repeatedly clogged with sticky fluid, requiring frequent maintenance and manual opening to clean the trims every few months.

With MMT, the IMI team eliminated the clogging and improved the water quality. The solution also improved flow conditions, allowing the site to handle high-pressure drops and lower flow rates. This was a breakthrough at the time, given that the technology was new and untested in the field.

Beyond any necessary operational improvements, MMT installation was simple since it was possible to use the existing body without any need to remove it from the line.

More success in the North Sea

Similar results were also seen at another customer site in the North Sea. A UK-based oil and gas producer was losing roughly £2 million per year due to an older competitor control valve installed downstream of the glycol dehydration contactor.Similar to the Norwegian platform, this site was also experiencing a high pressure drop, low flow, and debris accumulation in the fluid. Gravity was pushing this material to the bottom of the contactor, leading to total valve failure.

The valve was regularly taken out of service and cleaned once a week when the problem was at its worst, causing partial shutdowns and considerable production losses.

MMT was again able to eliminate the debris-related issues and dramatically improve flow stability. It has saved the customer £1 million, with the lead project engineer remarking on its ‘fit and forget’ potential.

Metamorphic Trim (MMT)

Revolutionise your plant’s efficiency with EroSolve Metamorphic Trim. This innovative self-cleaning valve solution combines multi-stage labyrinth and cascade technology to enhance safety, boost production, and drive profitability. Tackle minimum flow control, particle contamination, and poor rangeability issues across diverse industries.