In short: a cement kiln can burn shredded green waste, tyres and refuse-derived fuel in place of some of its gas or coal, but only if the fuel arrives at a steady rate and a consistent size. Jeffrey Rader feeders, disc screens and pneumatic conveying make that possible. BTGC supplies them in the Kingdom.

Saudi cement plants are looking at alternative fuels for two reasons: the cost of conventional fuel and the Kingdom's sustainability targets. Date palm waste, municipal green waste and refuse-derived fuel all burn well in a kiln. The problem is never the burning; it is the handling. Alternative fuels are light, stringy, variable and prone to bridging in hoppers.

What goes wrong in a fuel line

• Hopper bridging and rat-holing, so the feed stops and starts

• Oversize pieces that do not burn out before the clinker cools

• Surges that upset kiln combustion and raise emissions

• Dust and fire risk along conveyors

The equipment that solves it

The Posimetric feeder from sister brand Pennsylvania Crusher is a chemically precise metering system for bulk solids, listed in the BTGC catalogue for stabilising combustion in kilns and boilers.

Jeffrey Rader from BTGC

Jeffrey Rader is a TerraSource Global brand, alongside Gundlach Crushers and Pennsylvania Crusher. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Heavy-duty grinders for green waste and biomass

• Vibratory feeders and disc screens

• Pneumatic conveying systems and enclosed storage

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are alternative fuel processing for cement kilns, biomass and forestry handling, and phosphate and fertilizer feeding. See our page for Jeffrey Rader in Saudi Arabia and the full process and separation offer.

Crushing, too

For the raw side of the plant BTGC supplies Pennsylvania Crusher impactors and hammer mills for limestone and clinker, and Gundlach roll crushers for precise sizing with minimal fines. One partner covers the fuel line and the raw material line.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports cement plants and the mining and minerals sector across the Kingdom. For a quotation send the fuel type and moisture, the required feed rate, the particle size the kiln can accept and a sketch of the existing fuel line.

Questions buyers ask

Can an existing coal feed system be converted? Often partly; the metering and conveying usually need changing because alternative fuels are lighter and less free-flowing than coal.

How is fire risk managed? Enclosed conveying, dust control and temperature monitoring along the line; BTGC includes these in the system scope.

Does BTGC supply spares locally? Wear parts for feeders and screens can be stocked under a supply agreement.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: on a high-cycle port crane the wire rope is the most frequently replaced part, and the sheave it runs over decides how long it lasts. A machined, welded sheave is lighter than cast iron, lowers inertia on the rope and wears evenly. BTGC supplies Gosan sheaves, hook blocks and couplings for ports, steel mills and mega-projects.

Saudi ports at Jubail, Ras Al Khair, Dammam and Yanbu handle containers, phosphate, fertilizer and steel around the clock. Each crane cycle runs the hoist rope over several sheaves; a container crane can make a thousand cycles a day. Rope changes are planned downtime, and an early rope change is lost throughput.

What kills wire rope

• Bending fatigue at each sheave; a sheave too small or a groove with the wrong profile bends the wires too sharply.

• Inertia loads when a heavy cast sheave accelerates and brakes with every hoist; the rope takes the shock.

• Groove wear: a worn groove pinches or flattens the rope.

• Dust and salt in a port atmosphere, which grind the rope in the groove.

Why a welded, machined sheave lasts longer

Laminated hooks for melt shops

In a steel melt shop the ladle crane carries molten metal over people. A hook forged from a single piece can fail without warning if a crack runs through it. A laminated hook is built from riveted steel plates; if one plate cracks, the others carry the load. The BTGC catalogue describes this as a mandatory safety standard for smelters and foundries.

Gosan from BTGC

Gosan of Bilbao, Spain, has designed and manufactured lifting components since 1971 and makes more than 35,000 sheaves a year. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Machined and welded sheaves for wire rope transmission

• Hook blocks for port cranes, ladle cranes and mobile cranes

• Laminated ladle hooks for smelters and foundries

• Barrel couplings for hoisting drums and industrial crane wheels

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are port logistics, overhead cranes in steel mills, mega-projects and foundries. See our page for Gosan in Saudi Arabia and the full machinery and material handling offer.

Rope lubrication completes the picture

BTGC also supplies Bel-Ray and Royal Purple wire rope lubricants, penetrating oils that protect the rope core from the salt air of the Gulf and the Red Sea. Sheave, hook block and rope lubricant can be sourced as one crane maintenance package.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports ports, steel mills and construction contractors from three branches. For a quotation send the rope diameter and construction, the sheave diameter and groove profile, the load and duty class, and a drawing or photo of the existing component.

Questions buyers ask

Can Gosan match an existing sheave? Yes, sheaves are made to the drawing or to measurements of the old part.

What standards apply? FEM and DIN for crane components; the catalogue lists FEM 1001 and DIN 15020 for blocks.

Lead time for a hook block? Depends on capacity and customisation; BTGC verifies long-lead items before a crane outage.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: sour crude, seawater cooling and chloride-rich streams corrode carbon steel exchangers from the inside. The fix is the right alloy in the right place, tube side or shell side, built to TEMA. BTGC supplies Hemaco engineered shell and tube exchangers and pressure vessels, custom-built in carbon steel, stainless and exotic alloys.

Shell and tube exchangers do the heavy lifting in refineries, gas plants and petrochemical complexes: crude preheat, overhead condensing, reboiling, gas compression cooling. They run at pressures and temperatures that plate exchangers cannot, and they handle fouling fluids. Their weakness is corrosion, and in the Kingdom the corrosive fluids are everywhere.

Where carbon steel fails

The alloy goes where the corrosive fluid is. A titanium tube bundle in a carbon steel shell costs a fraction of an all-titanium unit and lasts as long, if the water is on the tube side.

Built to TEMA

The Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association standards define the construction classes, R for refinery service, and the mechanical details that make an exchanger maintainable: tube pitch, baffle spacing, pass partitions, removable bundles. Specify the TEMA class and type, for example BEU or AES, in the enquiry, with the ASME Section VIII design code.

Hemaco from BTGC

Hemaco of Italy designs and fabricates shell and tube heat exchangers and pressure vessels to TEMA and ASME. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Shell and tube exchangers custom-built in carbon steel, stainless steel and exotic alloys

• Pressure vessels: separators, columns and reactors for oil and gas

• Air-cooled exchangers to API 661, fin-fan coolers for process cooling

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are refinery process units, petrochemical feed heaters and gas compression coolers. See our page for Hemaco in Saudi Arabia and the full thermal management and cooling offer.

Replacement bundles and re-engineering

When the original manufacturer has gone or the drawings are lost, BTGC's asset re-engineering service captures the bundle geometry by 3D laser scan, reviews the metallurgy, and often recommends a better alloy than the 30-year-old original. The new bundle is fabricated to the measured dimensions and delivered in weeks rather than the year quoted for legacy OEM support.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports oil and gas refineries at Ras Tanura, Jubail and Yanbu from branches near all three. For a quotation send the TEMA datasheet or the thermal duty, design pressure and temperature, the fluids and their corrosion concerns, and the existing drawing if it is a replacement.

Questions buyers ask

Duplex or super duplex? Duplex handles most chloride streams; super duplex for hotter, more concentrated chlorides and seawater at temperature. BTGC and Hemaco select by the process data.

Can Hemaco work to Aramco standards? BTGC's document controllers manage the vendor document list against Aramco SAMSS and SAES and SABIC SES requirements.

Are Hemaco units inspected before shipment? Yes, BTGC's QA/QC engineer coordinates third-party inspection and attends the factory test.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: a measuring wheel slips on hot, scaled steel, and every slip means a crop cut in the wrong place or a coil that is longer than the order. A laser velocimeter measures speed and length without touching the strip, to 0.05 %. BTGC supplies KELK sensors for Saudi steel and aluminum mills.

In a hot strip mill, precision is profit. The crop shear cuts the head and tail of each transfer bar; cut too much and good steel goes to scrap, cut too little and a defective end reaches the coiler. The coil is sold by weight and ordered by length; every metre over the order is given away. Both decisions depend on one measurement: how fast the strip is moving and how far it has travelled.

Why contact measurement fails

A measuring wheel pressed against the strip slips on scale, water and vibration. The error is small per metre and large per shift. Wheels wear, bearings fail in the heat, and the sensor sits in the harshest spot in the mill.

How a laser velocimeter works

A laser Doppler velocimeter projects two laser beams onto the strip surface. The moving surface scatters the light; the frequency shift between the beams gives the speed directly, with no contact and no slip. Integrating speed over time gives length. The sensor sits away from the strip, behind an air purge, and survives heat, steam and dust.

KELK from BTGC

KELK, a Vishay Precision Group brand founded in Toronto in 1953, is the measurement standard of the world's rolling mills. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• ACCUSPEED non-contact laser velocimeters for speed and length

• ACCUBAND stereoscopic width gauges that measure strip width even when the strip vibrates or tilts

• Rollmax roll force load cells, hermetically sealed and forged from a single block of steel

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are hot strip mills and plate mills at Hadeed and SULB, and aluminum rolling. See our page for KELK in Saudi Arabia and the full machinery and measurement offer.

Thickness and flatness too

For thickness and profile, BTGC supplies IMS Messsysteme X-ray and isotope gauges, so a mill can source its force, speed, width and thickness measurement through one partner. Together they feed the automatic gauge control that holds strip tolerance.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports the metals and steel plants of Jubail and the Eastern Province from branches in Jubail and Dammam. For a quotation send the mill type, strip speed range, stand-off distance available and the mill automation system the sensor must feed.

Questions buyers ask

Can a laser velocimeter replace an existing wheel one for one? Usually yes; it needs a mounting position with a clear view of the strip and an air purge.

Does scale on the strip affect it? No, the Doppler measurement reads the surface whatever its condition.

What about calibration? The measurement is absolute; verification is by a length check against a known cut.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: an open cooling tower exposes the process water to dust, sand and air, so it fouls the equipment it is meant to cool. A closed-circuit tower keeps the process fluid inside a coil and sprays water only on the outside. BTGC supplies Baltimore Aircoil Company closed-circuit towers and adiabatic coolers, built for 50 °C ambient.

Operating in the Kingdom means battling ambient temperatures above 50 °C with air full of dust. A cooling tower is the plant's defence, and the wrong type becomes a maintenance burden: fouled heat exchangers, scaled jacket water circuits and chemical treatment costs that never stop.

Open tower or closed circuit

When to choose an adiabatic cooler

An adiabatic cooler is a dry cooler with a water spray or wetted pad that runs only during the hottest hours. For most of the year it runs dry and uses no water. In the summer peak, the spray brings the air temperature down before it reaches the coil. The BTGC catalogue lists this as the choice for plants where water conservation is a design target.

Baltimore Aircoil Company from BTGC

Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC) of the USA and Belgium is the global leader in factory-assembled cooling towers and closed-circuit fluid coolers. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Series 3000 and Series 1500 crossflow and counterflow cooling towers

• Closed-circuit cooling towers that isolate the process fluid from the atmosphere

• TrilliumSeries adiabatic coolers that run dry in cooler months

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are district cooling plants, refinery process water and HVAC utilities. See our page for Baltimore Aircoil Company in Saudi Arabia and the full thermal management and cooling offer.

Tropicalised for the Kingdom

BAC units for Saudi sites are specified for the real design ambient, with corrosion-resistant construction for coastal air and fill and drift eliminators chosen for dusty conditions. State the design wet-bulb temperature and the site location in every enquiry; a tower sized for a European wet bulb will under-perform here.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports petrochemical, refinery and district cooling customers from three branches, and supplies fill, nozzles, fans, drives and gearboxes as spares. For a quotation send the heat load, fluid, flow, inlet and outlet temperatures, design wet bulb and the site conditions.

Questions buyers ask

Can a closed-circuit tower replace an open one on an existing circuit? Yes, where the heat load and footprint allow; BTGC checks both.

How much water does an adiabatic cooler save? It depends on the site climate; the catalogue describes it as saving massive amounts by running dry outside the peak. BTGC can model the annual water use for the site.

Who services the towers? BTGC supplies spares and can arrange inspection and refurbishment through the Jubail service center and field teams.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: a seawater intake must take in millions of cubic metres a day and keep out jellyfish, seaweed, sand and fish, without clogging or harming marine life. A passive wedge-wire screen does it with no moving parts. BTGC supplies Elgin Separation Solutions intake screens, built for the high salinity and bio-fouling of the Gulf and Red Sea.

Every desalination plant and every coastal power station in the Kingdom begins with an intake. Debris that passes the intake blocks pumps, fouls condensers and shuts down trains. Traditional travelling band screens catch it, but they have motors, chains and sprays to maintain, and they collect marine life that must be handled and returned.

How a passive screen works

A passive screen is a cylinder of wedge-wire with precisely sized slots, mounted on the intake pipe below the water. Water enters through the slots at a low velocity, typically below 0.15 m/s. At that speed fish and swimming organisms can move away, and debris is not pulled onto the screen. There is no motor and no moving part; periodic air-burst cleaning clears any build-up.

Coanda screens for debris-heavy flows

Where the water carries heavy debris, a Coanda screen uses the way water clings to a curved surface. The flow runs over a curved, tilted wedge-wire panel; water drops through the slots and debris slides off the end. The screen cleans itself continuously. In the BTGC catalogue it is listed for cooling water security in power plants.

Built for the Gulf and the Red Sea

The catalogue specifies high-durability stainless steel and copper-nickel for the screens. Copper-nickel resists bio-fouling, which matters in warm, highly saline water where marine growth is fast. Slot size, screen diameter and material are selected for each intake from the flow, the water quality and the local marine species.

Elgin Separation Solutions from BTGC

Elgin Separation Solutions of the USA, part of the TerraSource Global group, supplies water intake and solid-liquid separation equipment. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Passive and Coanda intake screens for seawater abstraction and cooling towers

• Vertical cuttings dryers that recover up to 95 % of synthetic drilling fluid

• Decanter centrifuges for mining tailings, sludge and oily water

• Vibrating screens for aggregate classification

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are desalination intake protection, upstream oil and gas and industrial wastewater. See our page for Elgin Separation Solutions in Saudi Arabia and the full process and separation offer.

Upgrading an existing intake

BTGC's project team handles intake screen upgrades as brownfield retrofits: survey, screen selection, fabrication, marine installation coordination and commissioning, without changing the plant footprint. This is listed in the catalogue under cooling and filtration upgrades.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports power and water utilities on both coasts. For a quotation send the design flow, the intake depth and location, the water quality data and the species to be protected.

Questions buyers ask

What slot size? It depends on the pump and downstream equipment; common slots are 1 to 10 mm. Smaller slots need a larger screen to keep the velocity low.

How is bio-fouling controlled? Copper-nickel construction, air-burst cleaning and, where needed, a chlorination point at the screen.

Are screens made to order? Yes, each screen is sized for its intake.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: a plate exchanger wins on size, efficiency and cleaning for liquid-to-liquid duties; shell and tube wins on pressure, temperature and dirty or phase-change service; an air fin cooler wins where water is scarce. BTGC supplies all three from Kelvion.

Heat transfer sets plant profitability. An exchanger that fouls, leaks or under-performs costs energy every hour and production at every cleaning. The choice between the three main types is made at the specification stage, and it is worth getting right.

The three types compared

Saudi conditions change the answer

• Seawater cooling. Titanium plates or tubes resist Gulf seawater; the plate exchanger's small size suits coastal plants.

• Scarce water inland. Air fin coolers remove the water requirement, at the price of a larger footprint and lower performance on the hottest afternoons.

• High ambient. An air cooler sized for 40 °C under-performs at 50 °C; state the design ambient in the enquiry.

• Dust. Air-side fouling needs a cleaning schedule and, on critical units, a wash system.

Kelvion from BTGC

Kelvion Holding GmbH of Germany, formerly GEA Heat Exchangers, offers one of the world's largest portfolios of heat transfer technology. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Gasketed, brazed and fully welded plate heat exchangers

• Air fin coolers for refineries and gas plants where water is scarce

• Shell and tube exchangers for high-pressure and critical process duties

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are oil and gas processing, power plant condensers and marine cooling. See our page for Kelvion in Saudi Arabia and the full thermal management and cooling offer.

Spares and retubing

Most heat exchanger enquiries BTGC receives are for plates, gaskets, tube bundles and retubing rather than new units. BTGC supplies genuine plates and gaskets, and manages bundle replacement as a turnaround package with pre-shutdown inspection and kitting by tag number.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports petrochemical and oil and gas plants from three branches. For a quotation send the duty: both fluids, flow rates, inlet and outlet temperatures, allowable pressure drops, design pressure and temperature, and the fouling allowance.

Questions buyers ask

Can a plate exchanger replace a shell and tube unit? Often, for liquid-to-liquid duty within the gasket limits, and it saves space and energy. Not for high-pressure or condensing duty.

What about Hemaco for shell and tube? BTGC also supplies Hemaco engineered TEMA exchangers, built to order in carbon steel, stainless and exotic alloys.

How fast are plates and gaskets available? Common sizes are stocked or on short lead time; send the plate pattern and gasket material.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: sulfuric and hydrochloric acid attack most metals, and exotic alloys are expensive and still not immune. A valve lined with PFA or PTFE puts an inert plastic between the acid and the steel. BTGC supplies Crane ChemPharma & Energy lined ball, butterfly and check valves, with local assembly in Dammam.

Acid plants, chlor-alkali units and chemical distribution networks in Jubail and Yanbu handle fluids that corrode carbon steel in days and stainless steel in months. The choice for the valve engineer is between an exotic alloy body, which costs several times a steel valve, and a steel valve lined with a fluoropolymer.

How a lined valve works

The body is cast steel or ductile iron for strength. Every wetted surface is covered with a thick, bonded layer of PFA or PTFE. The acid never touches the metal. The lining is moulded, not sprayed, so it has no pinholes and extends through the flange faces to seal against the pipe lining.

Where a lined valve is the wrong choice

• Temperatures above the lining limit, around 200 °C for PFA

• Vacuum service that can pull the lining away from the body, unless the valve is vacuum-rated

• Abrasive slurries that cut the lining; a Saunders diaphragm valve with a rubber lining suits those

• Full-bore, high-pressure pipeline duty, where a metal-seated ball valve is the answer

Crane ChemPharma & Energy from BTGC

Crane ChemPharma & Energy is a portfolio of engineered valve brands for chemical and energy service, with strong local support in Saudi Arabia. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• PFA and PTFE lined ball and butterfly valves for corrosive acids and chlor-alkali

• Xomox sleeved plug valves, cavity-free, for polymer units and fouling media

• Saunders diaphragm valves, industrial and aseptic, for slurries and high-purity service

• High-performance butterfly and check valves for utility and process lines

Crane assembles and tests process valves locally in Dammam, which shortens lead times and supports local content targets. See our page for Crane valves in Saudi Arabia and the full industrial valves offer.

Stocking in Jubail

BTGC holds PFA-lined valves and spares in Jubail for the petrochemical complexes nearby, so a failed valve on an acid line can be replaced without waiting for an import. Ask for the current stock list by size and class.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports the petrochemical plants of Jubail and Yanbu from branches in both cities, with the valve test center in Jubail. For a quotation send the fluid and concentration, temperature, pressure, line size and the pipe lining material.

Questions buyers ask

PFA or PTFE? PFA is moulded and handles higher temperature; PTFE is the economical choice for moderate duty. BTGC selects by fluid and temperature.

How is the lining inspected? By spark testing for pinholes before shipment; test certificates are supplied.

Can lined valves be repaired? Liners are replaced as a unit; BTGC advises when replacement is cheaper.

Contact the BTGC valve team

Email valves@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: crushers, ball mills and kiln drives hit their gearboxes with sudden shock loads that break the oil film and pit the gear teeth. A synthetic gear oil with high film strength keeps the teeth apart. BTGC supplies Royal Purple gear oils with Synerlec additive technology, stocked in the Kingdom.

A gearbox on a phosphate crusher in the Northern Borders or a kiln drive in a cement plant on the Gulf coast lives a hard life. Loads arrive as shocks, not steady torque. Ambient temperature pushes the oil towards its limit. Dust finds its way in. The usual result is micropitting on the tooth flanks, then spalling, then a gearbox change in the middle of a production run.

What a shock load does to the oil

Gear teeth never touch directly in a healthy gearbox; a film of oil, thinner than a hair, carries the load. When a rock jams a crusher or a mill starts under load, the tooth pressure spikes. A conventional oil film collapses, metal touches metal, and a tiny surface fatigue crack forms. Repeated thousands of times a day, those cracks become micropitting: a dull grey band on the flank that grows until teeth spall.

Three failures, one cause

How a high film strength synthetic oil answers it

Royal Purple's Synerlec additive technology forms an ionic bond with the metal surface. The film responds to pressure with more strength, not less, so it stays in place under a shock load. The catalogue states film strength up to 400 % tougher than conventional oils. The practical effects BTGC customers look for:

• No dry starts: the film clings to the teeth during a stop

• Lower operating temperature, so longer oil life in a 50 °C ambient

• Rapid water separation, which matters in washed-down plants and humid coastal sites

• Longer drain intervals and fewer gearbox changes

Royal Purple from BTGC

Royal Purple of Texas, USA, makes synthetic industrial lubricants built around Synerlec. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Max-Gear and Synergy severe service gear oils for enclosed gearboxes

• Thermyl-Tuff open gear lubricant for girth gears, draglines and skid rails

• Thermyl-Glyde worm gear oil for high-torque gearboxes

• Synfilm GT and Synfilm Recip for pumps, turbines and compressors

• Barrier Fluid FDA for mechanical seals

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are mining crushers and mills, cement kilns, steel mills and petrochemical rotating equipment. See our page for Royal Purple in Saudi Arabia and the full lubrication and reliability offer.

Lube services around the oil

BTGC does not only supply the oil. Its lube services team carries out lubrication audits, oil filtration to Royal Purple's ISO 14/13/11 cleanliness standard, colour-coded tagging to stop cross-contamination, and predictive oil analysis. For a mining fleet this is how a gearbox change becomes a planned event.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports mining and minerals and cement customers across the Kingdom, with lubricant stock in Dammam. For a recommendation send the gearbox make and model, the OEM-specified viscosity grade, the duty and the current oil.

Questions buyers ask

Is it approved by the gearbox OEM? Royal Purple oils carry OEM approvals listed on the product datasheets; BTGC checks the specific gearbox before recommending a grade.

Can I switch without flushing? Royal Purple oils are compatible with mineral and most synthetic oils; a drain and fill is normal, a full flush is rarely needed.

Is it stocked locally? Yes, common grades are held in Dammam.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: a check valve that closes late slams shut against reverse flow and sends a pressure wave down the line. Non-slam designs close before the flow reverses. BTGC supplies KSB check valves, butterfly valves and gate valves for water transmission and power plant cooling water.

Saudi Arabia pumps potable water from coastal desalination plants to cities hundreds of kilometres inland, through some of the longest water transmission lines in the world. Every pumping station on those lines has check valves, and a check valve that slams is one of the most common causes of damage to pumps, pipes and supports.

Why check valves slam

When a pump stops, the water in the line decelerates and then starts to flow back. A conventional swing check valve closes only when reverse flow pushes the disc shut. By then the water is already moving backwards; the disc hits the seat and stops the column instantly. The result is a pressure spike, the bang that operators call slam, and over time cracked bodies, broken hinge pins and loosened pipe supports.

How a non-slam valve works

A non-slam check valve closes while the forward flow is still decelerating, before any reverse flow develops. Three design elements make this possible:

Nozzle check valves and spring-loaded dual-plate designs are the common non-slam types. For very long lines, the check valve is part of a surge protection scheme with surge vessels and controlled-closing butterfly valves.

KSB valves from BTGC

KSB of Germany is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pumps and valves and a leading supplier to the water and power sectors. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Non-slam check valves for large pumping stations

• Centric, double-offset and triple-offset butterfly valves for water, gas and process

• Gate and globe valves to DIN and ANSI standards for power plants and general industry

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are SWCC water transmission lines, power plant cooling water and general industry. See our page for KSB valves in Saudi Arabia and the full industrial valves offer.

Local content

Alongside KSB, BTGC supplies locally made water valves from AVK's Saudi facility and locally assembled Crane valves, so a water project can meet local content targets within one package. Ask BTGC to split the valve list between imported and locally made items.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports water and power utilities from the Gulf and Red Sea coasts, with valve testing and repair at the service center in Jubail. For a quotation send the line size, pressure class, flow and the pump trip scenario; BTGC can arrange a surge study for the station.

Questions buyers ask

Is a dual-plate check valve non-slam? Spring-loaded dual-plate valves close quickly and are used as non-slam valves on many lines; for the largest pumps a nozzle check valve is the safer choice.

Can slam be fixed without replacing the valve? Sometimes with a damper or a spring upgrade; usually the lasting fix is a non-slam design.

Does BTGC supply the surge vessels too? Yes, surge vessels and controlled-closing butterfly valves are part of the water package.

Contact the BTGC valve team

Email valves@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.