As the global fight against climate change intensifies, industries are increasingly being held accountable as major sources of environmental pollution. Large Industries globally are among the leading sources of pollutants, which have detrimentally deteriorated the environment.

Governments, private, and not-for-profit organizations are racing against time to remediate the environment and mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. One of the proven methods to achieve this is regulating the quantity and polluting potential of industrial processes.

Pollutants, including greenhouse gas emissions, are products of intensive industrial operations. Adopting more efficient industrial processes can lower the environmental footprint of industrial operations while driving long-term sustainability. Automated/automatic valves are vital for climate change initiatives, providing precise control of fluid-based industrial applications and boosting system efficiencies. 

This article explains how automated valves, including those in the Electric Solenoid Valves catalog, can address climate change challenges and their role in minimizing harmful industrial emissions, showcasing their current industrial capabilities and future potential.

What are Automated Valves?

An automated process valve regulates or controls fluid flow through processes. Their principal differences arise from operation modes. Automated valves do not require human intervention to operate. They have actuators that manipulate valve positions, causing them to open or close periodically in response to process control signals. Automated valves rely on different actuators, including pneumatic, hydraulic or electrical actuators.

Automating process valves eliminate multiple operational bottlenecks and allow fluid regulation in remote or hard-to-access locations. Using advanced actuators to control valves fosters operational precision, ensuring the valves deliver the right fluid quantities at precise intervals. With automated valves, it is possible to initiate or stop fluid flow in a fraction of a second. These valves also promote process efficiency by minimizing losses and errors from human interventions like delayed valve opening or closing and incomplete valve turning. Automated process valves are beneficial for emission control across industries and can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in high-emission processes and environments.

Automated valves are available in different categories and specifications, each tailored to meet the needs of diverse flow processes. Some popular types of automated valves include:

• Automated ball valves - have a simple design consisting of a ball with a spherical hole, which opens or closes with a 90-degree turn of the control lever. They provide reliable flow control performance and tight shut-off, making them ideal for processes prone to leakages, such as industrial gas operations.
• Solenoid valves - are highly responsive process valves whose operations rely on an electromagnetic coil that energizes to open or close fluid paths within the valve. These valves are vital for operations demanding rapid fluid flow switching on and off. They are common in HVAC systems and fluid power applications.
• Pneumatic solenoid valves - these are modifications of standard solenoid valves. However, these valves use compressed air to regulate fluid flow. Such valves are crucial for processes where using electrical energy is untenable. Compressed air can provide an additional safety buffer for such operations. Pneumatic solenoid valves are predominant in industrial material handling systems and automotive assembly processes.
• Other valves - almost all industrial valves are great candidates for automation. You may find automated butterfly, gate, globe, diaphragm, and needle valves. All these valves use the same types of actuators as their above counterparts. They can also meet flow control requirements for different applications and fluid categories.

Further Reading:

• What is a Solenoid Valve?
• Pneumatic Solenoid Valves - Operation, Types and Benefits
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Solenoid Valves
• Difference Between Electric Solenoid Valve and Motorized Ball Valve

How Automated Valves Combat Industrial Emissions

Now that we understand how automated valves work - let us discuss how these valves can help reduce environmental pollution and aid in climate change mitigation, with practical industrial examples to showcase the success of these automated fluid control devices.

Leak Prevention and Fugitive Emissions Control

Industrial leakages, however short they may last, can release substantial amounts of pollutants. Heavy industries like oil and gas processing facilities and chemical plants can suffer periodic leakages. These leakages cause an uncontrolled release of volatile compounds and greenhouse gases into the environment. The leakages may last a few minutes, but the quantity of pollutants released could be substantial.

Energy-efficient automated valves operate in a closed-loop environment, sending real-time feedback to control systems for continuous condition monitoring. These valves also have quick responsiveness to control signals with the additional advantage of tight shut-off (for ball valves). These properties of automated valves ensure processes can promptly respond to leaks and fugitive emissions should they occur without warning. Additionally, process operators can continuously evaluate the integrity of valves based on their real-time performances and recommend accurate maintenance or replacement measures to substitute problematic valves and prevent any likelihood of untreated chemical, fluid or gas leakage to the environment.

Automated valves are preferable for high-pressure flow operations. Their ability to combat fugitive emissions means they can support cleaner and greener operations in heavy industries responsible for decades of environmental degradation.

Regulatory Requirements and Compliance

One way to regulate environmental pollution is by establishing industry-specific regulations to combat pollution at the source. These regulations specify how to operate different processes, materials and parts specifications to ensure minimal or no release of pollutants from processes. These regulations can be national, regional or international, with predefined intervals for inspections or audits to verify compliance. Industry regulations demand precise control over emissions-related operations, in this case, relating to fluid flow and processing by-products.

Automated industrial valves are the first line of defense in emission control. They provide a means to control high-risk processes more precisely. The valves also collect data throughout the operating cycle, providing a wide array of data. The data collected is vital for periodic audits and verifying if processes meet the minimum standards for emission control. These data sets are equally essential for process improvements, offering insights into which operations to improve or eliminate to keep emissions within acceptable levels.

Enhancing Process Efficiency

Improving industrial process efficiency offers excellent rewards when dealing with pollution and climate change mitigation. Process inefficiencies can manifest as fluid overflows, unregulated and repetitive gas release, spillages, and uncontrolled fugitive emissions around valves and process equipment. These inefficiencies increase when processes are not running smoothly due to unresponsive or problematic process valves.

Automated valves are crucial for fostering process efficiencies. Their benefits include:

• Optimized use of raw materials: Reduces waste and enhances sustainability
• Dynamic fluid flow control: Programmed valves adjust flow rates in real-time
• Reduced pollutant output: Customization in chemical processing limits emissions
• Energy conservation: Less energy consumption leads to lower indirect emissions

Energy Conservation

Valves and industrial equipment require energy to operate. Strained processes or systems consume more energy, leading to more emissions. Harnessing energy from different sources is associated with emissions, with some processes like coal-powered power plants causing heavy environmental pollution. Industries can benefit from optimized energy conservation by substituting manual valves with automated, energy-conserving process valves.

Automated valves operate only when necessary. For instance, automated valves in industrial chiller systems permit the flow of chilled or heated water only when required. It reduces the need for constant pumping, lowering energy usage. Overall, automated valves form a crucial part of energy-efficient industrial systems.

Further Reading:

• How To Maximize Energy Efficiency of Solenoid Valves

Practical Application Areas of Automated Valves

Automated valves continue controlling the valve market as more industries align their operations to international sustainable goals and join their counterparts in the fight against emissions and climate change. These valves are more predominant in heavy industrial operations, with those involved in the circular economy to reduce emissions and wastes investing heavily in automated processes and equipment. Here are a few industry use-case scenarios of automated valves.

Blue Ammonia Production from Residual Oil and Gas Products

The oil and gas industry are fighting heavy pollution from their processes by investing in blue ammonia production facilities. These plants convert natural gas, a residue of oil and gas refining, into ammonia gas and capture carbon dioxide from the production process for storage. Leading oil and gas producers globally are implementing this solution to reduce the impact of their operations while providing fertilizer (urea) to feed the world. Blue ammonia production processes are highly autonomous, running on advanced control systems and sophisticated equipment.

Automated process valves facilitate precise control of gases and chemicals in the ammonia production process. The operation of these valves is crucial for ensuring existing carbon capture systems operate efficiently. The automated valves, mainly consisting of ball and solenoid valves, perform the following roles:

• Handling gas purification systems
• Regulating fluid flow in ammonia synthesis applications
• Separating gases in the carbon capture stages
• Chemical dosing and injection
• Shutting down processes and isolating pipe sections for maintenance or during emergency
• Pressure management in pipelines and reactors

Desalination Plants

Desalination is one of the solutions to the water scarcity experienced globally. It converts seawater into fresh water, providing clean water for home and industrial usage. These plants use reverse osmosis technology, which consists of complex, high-pressure piping systems and pumping equipment. Automated valves in desalination plants enhance overall equipment efficiency, ensuring optimal energy utilization and minimizing emissions. Some functions of automated valves include:

• Controlling the flow of seawater, brine and freshwater
• Brine discharge management to regulate flow and prevent environmental damage
• Chemical dosing
• Energy recovery from high-pressure brine streams
• Seawater intake regulation

Power Plants

Automated valves are essential for controlling harmful emissions in modern and traditional power plants. They are particularly crucial for plants relying on fossil fuels for power generation. These valves control the flow of fuels, steam and water needed for routine plant operations. The automated valves promote process precision, ensuring power plants operate at peak efficiency while keeping the quantity of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides at low levels.

Some functions of automated valves are:

• Steam flow control in steam turbine plants
• Fuel supply regulation
• Regulating the flow of cooling fluids
• Flue gas regulation
• Controlling heat recovery steam generators in combined cycle power plants
• Ash management in coal power plants
• Controlling the flow of hydraulic and lubricating fluids to power generation equipment

Chemical Industries

Chemical processing is a high-risk activity demanding multiple controls to ensure safety and predictable regulation of harmful emissions. These plants handle harmful chemicals whose leakage or spillage can cause irreversible environmental damage. Automated valves in chemical processes enhance process safety, ensuring minimal exposure to hazardous chemicals and their by-products. These valves have the following functions:

• Regulating the flow of harmful process reactants
• Safety and emergency shutdown
• Batch processing
• Gas and liquid separation
• Chemical dosing and mixing
• Automated chemical sampling
• Fluid control in filtration and purification systems

Prospects Of Automated Valves in Climate Change Mitigation

How does the future of automated valves look? What technologies or solutions will enhance their emissions control capabilities, and how will they influence valve performances?

Carbon Capture and Storage Solutions

Automated process valves will remain crucial in advanced carbon capture technologies (CCS). Innovations in carbon capture technologies will demand valves that are up to the task and can effectively manage the capture, storage and transportation of recovered carbon dioxide for secondary and tertiary industrial applications. These valves will be vital for lowering the carbon footprint while supporting industrial efforts to manage climate change more effectively.

AI For Automated Valve Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will change how industries manage automated process valves. IIoT enables these valves to be part of an interconnected ecosystem, where data from various sensors and devices can be aggregated and analyzed in real time. AI can use self-learning models to scrutinize how different valve operations affect fluid control and their effects on emissions. The AI predictive models can then leverage historical data to identify valve failures and emission levels and propose advanced valve designs that enhance leak prevention, emission control and energy optimization models to ensure valves and processes run effectively with the minimum environmental footprints.

Renewable Energy Integration

The transition to renewable energy sources is crucial for reducing industrial emissions, and research institutions like the MIT Energy Initiative are at the forefront of developing innovative solutions. Companies are investing in energy mixes that guarantee low emissions, including investment in solar and futuristic hydrogen power generation systems. These valves will offer advanced methods for handling gases like hydrogen and blue ammonia in the next-generation energy systems, strengthening the fight against environmental degradation.

Conclusion

Automated valves are the present and the future of industrial processes. Their relevance goes beyond routine fluid regulation - they are part of the fight against climate change. These valves can prevent leakages, optimize industrial processes, and conserve energy utilization across different industries. The role of automated valves in the current industrial revolution will be more impactful as newer innovative technologies strengthen their performance and sustainability capabilities.

At ElectricSolenoidValves.com, we provide cutting-edge valve solutions, aligning our products with industrial sustainable practices to ensure you get value for your money and play a role in mitigating polluting emissions and fighting climate change.