By Kristian Lund Jepsen, Ramboll Oil & Gas

F
or control valves allowable seat
leakage rates are given by ANSI FCI
70-2 and are not further elaborated
here.
The leakage rates listed in the following
are the acceptance rates for new valves,
i.e. the acceptance levels during the leak
testing in the factory. Valves in operation
are not covered by the stated leakage
rates.
Standards
Classifcation of allowable leakage rates as
well as the test procedures and conditions
are stated in several standards, but two
of the most often references from oil
companies and consulting engineers are:
API 598, Valve Inspection and Testing
EN 12266-1, Industrial valves - Testing
of valves. Part 1: Pressure tests, test
procedures and acceptance criteria.
Mandatory requirements.
These standards covers both strength test
(shell pressure test) and seat leakage test.
It shall be noted that some valve
design standards, such as BS 5351 and
Test
description
Valve type
Gate Globe Plug Check Floating
ball
Butterfy and
trunnion
mounted ball
Low-pressure gas Required Optional Required Optional Required Required
High-pressure liq. Optional Required Optional Required Optional Optional
Test
description
Valve type
Gate Globe Plug Check Floating
ball
Butterfy and
trunnion
mounted ball
Low-pressure gas Optional Optional Optional Optional Required Optional
High-pressure liq. Required Required Required Required Optional Required
Test description Pressure
Low-preesure gas 4 - 7 barg
High-pressure liq. 110% (*)
Valve
size
(NPS)
All
resilient
seated
valves
All metal-seated valves except
check
Metal-seated
check valves
Liquid test
(Drops per minute)
Gas test (bubbles
per minute)
Liquid test Gas test
2 0 0 0 (#) (##)
2 - 6 0 12 24 (#) (##)
8 - 12 0 20 40 (#) (##)
14 0 (**) (***) (#) (##)
API 6D contain separate leakage rate
requirements. API 6D makes reference
to ISO 5208, but in practice API 6D
valves are often in Europe specifed
with allowable leakage rates as per EN
12266-1.
In the following it is seen that the
conditions for tests are quite similar for
the two leakage / test standards as the
high pressure liquid test will be performed
at 110% of the valve design pressure and
the low pressure gas test is carried out at
approximately 5 barg pressure.
Seat leakage tests - liquid / gas
tests
Both the referred two standards operate
with two set test procedures:
A high pressure liquid leak tightness test.
A low pressure gas leak tightness test
Valves: NPS 4 & ASME class 1500; NPS > 4 & ASME class 600
The maximum allowable leakage rates for the leak tests
Valves: NPS 4 & ASME class > 1500; NPS > 4 & ASME class > 600
Test pressures:
Table 3, API 598 test conditions
(*) 110% of max. allowable pressure at 38 C in
acc. with the purchase specifcation.
Table 4:API 598 test acceptance criteria
(**): For valves NPS 14, the max. permissible leakage rate shall be 2 drops per minute per in. NPS
(***): For valves NPS 14, the max. permissible leakage rate shall be 4 bubbles per minute per in. NPS
(#): The maximum permissible leakage rate shall be 3 cm3 per minute per in. NPS.
(##): The maximum permissible leakage rate shall be 0.042 m3 per minute per in. NPS.
Abbreviations
DN: Nominal Diameter (in mm)
ESDV: Emergency Shutdown Valve
PN: Nominal pressure (in bar) rating
as per EN-standards
NPS: Nominal Pipe Size (nominal
diameter in inches)
Table 1: API 598 tests
Table 2: API 598 tests
Seat leakage rates in on/off
valves
This article considers allowable
seat leakage rates in new gate,
ball, plug, globe and check
valves. The article shall mainly
be seen in relation to valves in
the oil & gas industry, but the
referred EN 12266-1 is also
widely used for industrial valves
generally.
www.valve-world.net September 2010 29
MATERI ALS & MANUFACTURI NG
Maximum allowable seat leakage for each leakage rate in cubic
millimetres per second:
Test
fuid
Rate A Rate B Rate C Rate D Rate E Rate F Rate G
Liquid 0 0,01 x DN 0,03 x DN 0,1 x DN 0,3 x DN 1,0 x DN 2,0 x DN
Gas 0 0,3 x DN 3,0 x DN 30 x DN 300 x DN 3000 x DN 6000 x DN
About the author
Mr Kristian Lund Jepsen is Senior Chief Consultant at Ramboll
Oil & Gas in Esbjerg, Denmark. He holds an M.Sc. in mechanical
engineering from the Technical University of Denmark,
Copenhagen, from 1981. He has been with Ramboll Oil & Gas
for about 15 years. Mr Jepsen is a technical expert within the oil
and gas production and processing areas, with special focus on
mechanical equipment and systems including valves. Earlier in
his career, he has held positions in large energy companies such as Maersk Oil and
Halliburton.
API 598. Leakage rates
The tests are carried out as per Tables 1
to 4 on previous page.
It is seen that in many cases the options
possible must be specifed on a case by
case basis by the specifer.
EN 12266-1, Leakage rates
The selection of, if the test is carried
out as low pressure gas test or high
pressure liquid test is decided by the valve
manufacturer.
Test
description
Pressure
Low-preesure gas 5 - 7 barg(**)
High-pressure liq. 110% (*)
Test pressures:
Table 5: EN 12266-1 test conditions.
(*) 110% of max. allowable differential pressure
at room temperature.
(**) Applicable for valves
sizes up to DN 80 for all pressure ratings
sizes > DN 80 - DN 200 for pressure ratings up
to PN40 / class 300.
The rate A is here normally the class
specifed for soft seated valves, especially
those for ESD use including riser ESDVs.
Conclusion
For riser valves and emergency shutdown
valves with metal-to-metal seats a rate
D would often be specifed in the oil/gas
industry. However, for riser ESDVs, leakage
rates B or C are also in some cases
specifed. In general there seems to be no
correlation between the allowable leakage
rates specifed for new valves and that of
the valves in service, i.e. after they have
been in use for some time.
Therefore it is appropriate to apply a
requirement not stronger than the rate D
for new valves. This is also in line with the
recommended leakage rates in ISO 14313.
It shall be mentioned that leakage rates of
safety critical valves in service cannot be
evaluated against the above mentioned
leakage rates. An approach including risk
analysis on a case-by-case basis must be
applied for valves in service.
Fig. 1: Offshore metal-to-metal seated, trunnion type riser valve (24 NPS) to
API 598. Leakage rate EN 12266-1, rate D.
Fig. 2: 1 NPS class 150, soft seated foating ball valve. This valve will require a
leakage rate A according to EN 12266-1.
Fig. 3: 8 NPS, class 150
wafer check valve, metal-
to-metal seated. Check
valves are normally not
considered to be tight and
a leakage rate E, F or G
would be suffcient for
most check valves.
Table 6: EN 12266-1 test acceptance criteria.
www.valve-world.net 30 September 2010
MATERI ALS & MANUFACTURI NG