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Supagraf Premier compression packing from James Walker
Supagraf Premier compression packing from James Walker has beaten TA-Luft VDI 2440 emission control requirements by a significant margin to gain an outstanding rating in independent tests at the Amtec laboratory in Germany. Recorded gas emission levels in tests at 240°C and 400°C respectively would not fill a golf ball or tennis ball in a year! The tests, on a set of 56mm o/d Supagraf Premier rings, were undertaken for BP Refining & Petrochemicals, which operates the Ruhr Oel Gelsenkirchen refinery. It needed to know the sealing efficiency of graphite valve packings from several suppliers in order to comply with the EU’s IPPC pollution prevention and control directive.
Targets of the investigation were to confirm TA-Luft leakage rates less than 10-4 mbar.l/(s.m) at sealing system temperatures below 250°C, and less than 10-2 mbar.l/(s.m) at above 250°C. The test involved 1000 vertical valve stem movements of 40mm — without live-loading on the packing — whilst sealing helium at 25 bar for 24 hours. Leakage after 24 hours at 240°C showed 7.0 x 10 -6 mbar.l/(s.m) and at 400°C the leakage rate was 2.3 x 10-5 mbar.l/(s.m).