Blast Cleaning Fracking Valves

Author:  The Shot Peener Staff
Source:  The Shot Peener magazine, Vol 33, Issue 4, Fall 2019
Doc ID:  2019047
Year of Publication:  2019
Abstract:  
Market: Oil and Gas Application: Abrasive blast cleaning of fracking valves prior to coating The Challenge: A major supplier of fracking valves to the oil and gas industry wanted to blast clean the valves prior to coating. They were using two indexing turntable abrasive blast cleaning machines made by an Empire competitor. These machines were suction blast units with six to eight guns per unit. The valves were cylindrical in shape and approximately six inches in diameter and six inches tall. The surface had several valve seats and a protruding surface, making the blast cleaning process challenging. Employees manually re-adjusted the nozzles to accommodate the different parts. In addition, some parts were more complex, resulting in a longer set-up time for the guns. The finishing step was very important—a coating was applied after the valves were blast cleaned. However, the manual set-up was time consuming and it was affecting quality and repeatability.