Rotork CMA actuators enable shale gas well compliance

July 2, 2015 - Rotork CMA electric control valve actuators delivered an efficient and reliable process control solution and eliminated venting and greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with new environmental protection legislation at remotely sited shale gas installations in the USA.

Traditionally, spring diaphragm actuators powered by the produced gas have been used, but recent EPA mandates now limit this process to lower fugitive emissions caused by bleed gas. A shale gas company in Louisiana was therefore looking for an affordable and efficient low power solution that could be run by solar panels to replace existing actuation equipment and control a variety of fluids at line pressures up to 413 bar (6000 psig).

Most shale wells and flow lines are unmanned and located in remote areas that are difficult and expensive to monitor. Skilled technicians must check data and perform manual shutdowns, increasing costs for the time to travel to site, identifying the problem and stopping the flow, which is not cost-effective or practical. Actuators provide an ideal solution to automate valves at the remote wells.

The key objective was to provide an efficient and reliable process control actuator which could be retrofitted on installed valves to reduce costs and downtime. Rotork’s local agent Setpoint Integrated Solutions engineered an interface to enable CML-250 actuators to be easily fitted to installed valves and improve the level of control, without venting gas and with the low power demand required for solar powered operation.

Designed for quarter-turn, multi-turn and linear valve operation, Rotork CMA actuators perform numerous process control valve, choke valve, metering pump and damper applications demanding precise position control and continuous modulation. Single-phase or DC electrical power is all that is required for simplified installation and control valve actuation. Explosionproof certification to international standards is available for hazardous area applications. Recent developments enable the CMA to be specified with increased functionality encompassing local controls, LCD positional display and programmable fail-to-position performance.

The success of this solution has enabled the Louisiana customer to standardise on the CMA actuator for future flow control applications. Around the world, increasing numbers of CMA actuators are used for similar duties.

For nearly sixty years, engineers have relied upon Rotork for innovative and dependable flow control solutions. Rotork products and services are helping companies in the oil & gas, water and wastewater, power, marine, mining, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries around the world to improve efficiency,