Over the last few years, there has been an increase in through body leaks on cast HF Alkylation valves. This presentation will review several real life examples of casting failures on valves in HF Alkylation service including cross sections of the failure location. These failures have occurred on both low RE carbon steel and Alloy 400 (M35-1) castings. Some common causes of casting failures will be reviewed including sand inclusions, porosity and varying levels of shrinkage. Common locations of casting quality issues with HF Alkylation valves will be discussed including the bottom bowl area and the body to end flange transition on Alloy 400 plug valves. The presentation will also cover some of the methods that are being implemented in the industry to improve the casting quality of HF Alkylation valves along with efforts to standardize and consolidate requirements for these valves.

Speaker: Michael Alford, Marathon Petroleum