Open and closed success EFFEBI

OPEN AND CLOSED SUCCESS

EFFEBI is a European market leader in the design and manufacture of industrial brass valves. In a highly competitive market this long-established Italian company continues to set new standards. It is also perfectly placed to take advantage of a resurgence in the oil and gas exploration sectors, as Philip Yorke reports

With over forty years of experience in the production of industrial brass valves, EFFEBI has operated in all fields of civil and industrial engineering and offers a vast range of increasingly innovative and tested shut-off valves. Thanks to its totally integrated production processes, which includes carefully selected raw materials and hot-stamping by EFFEBI’S subsidiary company Pressytal, the company maintains its pole position in the industrial valve industry.

All the company’s production processes are supported by a strictly controlled quality system and are certified according to ISO 9001:2008. EFFEBI has grown to become a leader in the Italian and international market and is a point of reference in its field. Recently the company extended its range by acquiring the design and coveted trademark “TOF Joint System”, endorsing its position as the leader in the valve production and of brass fittings for PE and steel pipes.

Since then the company has further widened its product range by adding brass fittings for the connection of multilayer pipes as well as for a range of threaded fittings. During the last few years, the company’s industrial valve portfolio has increased progressively with many technical advances being contributed based on the research capabilities of its subsidiary company Binox, which produces industrial valves for a wide variety of different applications.

In order to offer a more efficient service which aims at optimising client satisfaction, the company has also opened a new 7,000 square metre logistics centre nextt to its head office in Italy.

Flexible TOF system

The company’s unique ‘TOF joint system’ is a clever and simple device, it is also flexible as well as being easy and quick to install. It

consists of only two elements, a rubber truncated cone-shaped gasket and a metal or plastic anchor ring. The rubber ring has a special configuration due to the polyethylene and production technology. The truncated cone conforms to pipe tolerance that includes ovality and ensures a perfect hydraulic seal thanks to its proportional resistance, thus offering an important support to the mechanical sealing ring.

The special configuration of the mechanical sealing ring further ensures a good adaptation to pipe tolerance and a perfect fastening to the pipe. For PE 100 pipes and gas pipes an internal reinforcing element acting as a bushing, makes the pipe more rigid. The TOF PE joint with reinforced bushing is suitable for PE-X pipes and the joint is classified as a type A compression unit. EFFEBI’s TOF system is used widely throughout the gas and oil industry as well as countless other manufacturing industries worldwide.

Resurgence in demand

A key driver for the global industrial valves market is the oil and gas industry and the resurgence in oil and gas exploration activities. Consequently, EFFEBI is well placed to take advantage of this and many other global growth markets.

Today the oil and gas exploration activities are recovering after the steep decline of oil prices in 2014, which had led to many companies postponing their upstream projects. The crude prices witnessed strong growth by the end of 2017 and a further rise in

2018. Several oil and gas upstream projects were commenced in 2017 due to the rise in oil prices, which resulted in significant drilling activities.

The global industrial valves market industry is also seeing major advances in valve technology helped by the research and development of companies such as EFFEBI. Key valve components have been upgraded with the development of technological modifications to withstand the hostile working applications of many industries. The actuator is a component of the valve, which controls mass and energy flow by regulating the valve. The manufacturers of these have been integrating sensors and electronic components with actuators to improve their data capturing and monitoring capabilities.

“Advances are also being witnessed in valve positioners used for adjusting positions of actuators based on the control signal. The advances in sensor technology and decrease in cost of sensors are allowing valve positioners to deliver data regarding valve stroke and thrust, output pressure to the actuator, temperature, valve plug wear, and valve performance,” said a senior research analyst at Technavio Italy.

Interestingly, the ball valves segment held the largest industrial valves market share in 2018, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the market. This product segment is expected to dominate the global market in the foreseeable future and is a key market for EFFEBI’s brass valves. For further details of the company’s latest innovative valve products and customer services visit: www.effebi.com n