Valves are essential mechanical components, widely utilized in downstream industries such as oil and gas, chemicals, power generation, water supply and wastewater treatment, papermaking, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, food processing, mining, non-ferrous metals, and electronics.
Valve selection requires a clear definition of the valve's intended function within a specific piece of equipment or system, as well as a determination of the operating conditions (e.g., the nature of the fluid medium, operating pressure, operating temperature, and control method). Common valve types are each suited to specific applications: for instance, gate valves are suitable for general-purpose applications; globe valves are appropriate for pipelines where fluid resistance is not a critical concern, as well as for high-temperature and high-pressure media; ball valves are ideal for low-temperature, high-pressure, and high-viscosity media; butterfly valves are typically used for media such as water, oil, and compressed air at temperatures ≤ 80°C and pressures ≤ 1.0 MPa; check valves are generally suitable for clean media; and diaphragm valves are applicable to media such as oil, water, acidic fluids, and fluids containing suspended solids, provided the operating temperature is below 200°C and the pressure is below 1.0 MPa.
In harsh operating environments-such as those found in coal chemical processes-valve selection necessitates a comprehensive consideration of factors including high temperature and pressure, hydrogen embrittlement and corrosion, flammability and explosiveness, toxicity and hazardous properties, as well as potential clogging and erosion caused by multiphase flows. For example, for "black water" valves in coal gasification units, it is essential to select materials that are resistant to both abrasion and corrosion (e.g., a duplex stainless steel body with internal components featuring hard-alloy hardfacing or solid tungsten carbide inserts); furthermore, the valve's flow channel structure should be optimized-utilizing a design free of dead zones and featuring large-radius curves-to minimize erosion and prevent clogging. For high-pressure oxygen valves, specialized valve types (such as globe valves or check valves) must be selected, while the use of gate valves or quick-opening/quick-closing ball valves should be avoided; materials typically consist of nickel-based alloys such as Monel or Inconel, and strict operating protocols-such as slow opening-must be adhered to during operation to prevent combustion and explosion accidents.
Industrial control valves represent the high-to-mid-range segment of the industrial valve market; within process control systems, they serve the critical function of precisely regulating fluid flow rates. Their primary applications lie in sectors such as petrochemicals, power generation, oil and gas, and metallurgy, while their adoption is also steadily expanding within industries such as papermaking, environmental protection, food processing, and pharmaceuticals. In the future, in addition to continuous improvements in reliability and precision, the development of industrial control valves will increasingly trend toward standardization and modularization, and-driven by industrial automation and digital transformation-evolve in the direction of intelligence.