Case Study: Chemical Agent Destruction

On July 7th 2023, the United States reached a historic milestone in global efforts to protect human rights. It eliminated the last of its chemical weapons stores.

Near Richmond, Kentucky, expert operators at the Bechtel Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) safely and irreversibly destroyed the last M55 rocket containing GB nerve agent. This formed part of the United States’ commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). But, by their very nature, chemical agents pose one of the most significant threats to human life and the natural environment. So, Bechtel needed the utmost confidence in the process control components for its chemical agent neutralization systems. This led Bechtel to Trimteck.

What did Bechtel need for this application?

Neutralizing chemical agents involves some of the most challenging service conditions of any control valve application—highly corrosive media, high temperatures, and lethal substances.

After draining GB or VX nerve agents from projectiles, Bechtel needed to neutralize them with a mix of process water and caustic, heated to very high temperatures in a hydrolyzer. This caused a chemical reaction that broke down the agents.

It was vital that the control valves for this system and others across the plant performed consistently over time, withstanding extreme corrosion and high temperatures. Achieving this would minimize the need for maintenance or replacement, which would significantly increase risk exposure events.

In addition to these severe service conditions, Bechtel had the following requirements:

• It could only use valves from US manufacturers.
• The plant needed a supplier that could meet its full scope of supply, from straightforward, high-performance butterfly valves to severe service globe valves.
• It needed to work with a manufacturer that could design with exotic materials to resist extreme corrosion.
• Lethal service applications required no less than zero fugitive emissions.

What was Trimteck’s solution?

Trimteck delivered the full scope of supply for BGCAPP, which included:

• Main steam system valves to control the flow and pressure of steam.
• Corrosive chemical valves to control the flow of caustic and other corrosive chemicals.
• High-pressure and low-pressure steam valves from the auxiliary boiler to help regulate and maintain the right pressure levels across the system.
• Attemperator valves to provide precise regulation of steam temperature with injections of hotter or colder water.
• Steam vent valves to prevent pressure build-up.
• Dump valves to quickly divert steam in case of an emergency or during routine maintenance.

We precision-engineered and manufactured custom specialty valves that allowed us to tailor the materials of individual design components to withstand extreme corrosion and high temperatures. We also fitted certain Optimux OpGL™ control valves with our GuardMaster metal bellows seal. Alongside other effective stem packing configurations, the GuardMaster metal bellows seal ensures zero fugitive emissions up to 6 million cycles, at -380F to 1120F, and pressures up to 1300PSI.

The result

BGCAPP is now in its closure phase, having safely destroyed 523.4 U.S. tons of chemical agent. Both the original plant and its subsequent twin used all Trimteck valves to ensure system performance, worker safety, and environmental protection.

Controlling the world's most critical applications

Not every control valve operates in the same high stakes as those at BGCAPP. But, all of them keep critical processes flowing in industries that drive people’s day-to-day lives and innovate for the future. That’s what drives us to precision engineer and manufacture customizable control valves that our customers can rely on for years, even for the most severe services.

Whatever your process conditions or scope of supply, our expert, in-house Application Engineers can help. They will support you to size and specify the control valve or valves that will endure and optimize your system’s performance. Use our online form or download our AccuValve™ Software to get started today.