Recently, Seal-Tite performed another successful repair using a novel foam injection technique to restore integrity to a natural gas storage cavern ball valve. The subject valve had a leaking body seal on the tree side of the product line, allowing cavern gas to escape to atmosphere via the body flange studs. By injecting both liquid pressure-activated sealant and nitrogen concurrently through a static mixing assembly into the valve cavity, the generated sealant foam was able to penetrate the small gas-only leak site(s) on the body seal and stop the leak at the source. Post-treatment, the operator was able to restore the valve to full operational capacity in a safer and more cost-effective manner than the alternative mechanical remediation options.
The addition of the above described foaming technique to the Seal-Tite toolbox adds yet another means to further tailor the sealant treatment to the specific application. Improvements in sealant coverage, penetration, and density control associated with foaming can tackle a wide array of gas environment leaks across a variety of leaking components.
