Fluxo and its representative in Belo Horizonte, CRT, were chosen by Samarco to supply 372 actuated valves and six hydraulic units for its third pipeline, a unit that is part of its P4P expansion project (Fourth Pellet Project).
The valves supplied are from Valvtechnologies and the actuators and hydraulic units are from Shafer, a brand belonging to Emerson's valve automation division. The equipment is specially manufactured for use in pipelines that transport ore slurry, an extremely aggressive material for valves. Several technologies have been tested for this purpose over time at Samarco, but only the VTI and Shafer set have performed well on the pipeline.
The Fluxo, CRT and Samarco partnership is already a proven recipe for success. Samarco's first pipeline – which has been operating for about 34 years – has Shafer actuators and hydraulic units and has already had several of its valves replaced by Valvtechnologies. In 2006, Fluxo installed the Valvtechnologies and Shafer equipment in Samarco's second pipeline, where they are still operating perfectly to this day, which facilitated the choice of Samarco for this challenge.
VTI valves are of high quality, have a long service life and low maintenance costs. They are manufactured to withstand the most severe applications such as: high and low temperatures, high pressure, high cycles, abrasive, corrosive, caustic and nuclear applications. The valves are at such a high level of development that their standards will be followed by many valve manufacturers of future generations.
Shafer offers a ten-year warranty for hydraulic actuators and the HPUs have a thermal compensation system that avoids wasting energy in unnecessary actuations. In addition, they deliver constant pressure to the hydraulic system that drives the actuators, prolonging the useful life of the hydraulic set and ensuring full availability for the demands of the pipeline.