Metso’s industry-leading position in crushing and grinding technology is well known throughout the mining community, but its valve expertise may not be well known.
Metso has been designing valve solutions for over 90 years as a complement to the Group’s production of mineral processing and pump technology.One of the Group’s milestones was the founding of Neles Oy in 1956, focusing on flow control solutions for the pulp and paper industry in Finland.
Neles® has since become a household name in multiple industries and is known for quality engineered metal-sealed valve solutions.The company also acquired the Jamesbury® business decades ago, adding high-performance soft-seating valve solutions to the product portfolio.
Ville Kähkönen, industry management director for fluid controls at Metso, told IM at the company’s Hakkila factory site near Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland that there is a clear distinction between the two product lines.
“Jamesbury valves are used for temperatures below 260°C,” he said, adding that Neles metal seated valves are the best choice for higher temperatures or process media including abrasive fluids and solids such as sand.
Touring the factory and hearing from Kähkönen and Heikki Kärki, Industry Managers, Mining and Mineral Processing, Metso Flow Control, IM found out how many of these valves have entered mining operations around the world.
The fact that the company manufactures not only valves but also actuators and smart controllers sets it apart from many competitors who offer only one or both of these elements.
According to Kärki, in a mineral processing plant, on average, around 10,000 valves can be installed in one operation, each serving a specific purpose.
He told IM that it wasn’t just Metso knife gate valves that were found during the separation and refining phases of mining operations – for isolation purposes in the mill circuit.The company offers several types of valve solutions that can be tailored to specific applications.
This extensive expertise is reinforced by a quick look at the number of valves installed by Metso between 2000 and 2018.During this period, the company’s supply base has covered all but one continent (except Antarctica), with applications spanning what it calls “mud, utility and severe services”.
As one of the few companies that can offer complete valve assemblies including valves, actuators and smart valve controllers, Metso has little ability to customize valves for harsh, abrasive and sour conditions.With autoclave processing.This is an area where nickel, copper and gold have been growing in recent years, Kähkönen said.In these applications, standard valves can last for weeks – pressures may exceed 30 bar, temperatures may exceed 200°C, and concentrations may be highly acidic.
A materials technology team with decades of experience, coupled with ongoing relationships with autoclave manufacturers, allows the company to come up with valve solutions that provide robust coatings specifically designed to outperform other solutions in the autoclave market more durable.
The company was also keen to highlight its digital capabilities in the valve space during the visit.
Metso introduced its first NP™ series pneumatic positioners 50 years ago.Metso introduced a digital valve controller, the Neles ND9000, back in 1995, and since the introduction of the product, the company has built intelligent controllers to collect data for analysis by Metso’s internal teams or by customers themselves, the latest is its Neles NDX® controller.
These controllers have acquired such a reputation that other valve manufacturers often purchase them to complement their own valve solutions.
Specializing in Neles engineered valves and smart positioners, Hakkila is one of several Metso Valve Technology Centers worldwide.Its Shrewsbury plant in Massachusetts, USA, caters to demand for Jamesbury valves, while its plant in Horgau, Germany, specializes in high-performance Neles butterfly valves.
Chungju, South Korea is responsible for Neles globe valves, and its two plants in the Mumbai region of India focus on manufacturing Jamesbury EasyFlow valves and Neles Scotch yoke actuators for the Indian and global markets.
In addition to this, it has a second U.S. factory in Minnesota (Fergus Falls), a service and supply center in Brazil (Sorocaba), a technology center in Shanghai, China, and a global Standard Neles and Jamesbury products are manufactured in the range and serviced in the United States.The technology center in Jiaxing, China, will open next year.
Every year, Metso supplies around 400 000 valves to different process industries.In addition, Metso completed more than 20,000 valve overhauls and 3,000 site visits.It also performs over 250 critically planned valve closures per year – an important factor in ensuring that the valves work for as long as possible.
And, the company has recently enhanced its valve manufacturing process to be able to use 3D printing in certain valve components.This is a process that provides previously unavailable engineering options, such as improving certain design features and reducing the weight of valve assemblies.
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Post time: Apr-15-2022
