Industrial solutions company Flowrox’s slurry knife-gate valves are ideal for demanding shut-off applications in the mining, minerals-processing and metal industries, the company says.

“The new and robust Flowrox slurry knife-gate valve series handles fluids and slurries in the toughest conditions. The valves are heavy duty, fully bidirectional and full-bore, with no flow restrictions, and have minimised wear, which enables abrasive or corrosive slurries to move freely without compromising the process,” says Flowrox marketing manager Terhi Tella.

She says the push-through design of the valves, which were launched in October last year, allows for any built up material to be pushed out when the valves are closed. When the stainless steel gate comes down, it separates the two sleeves and pushes any material accumulation into the bottom of the valve.

Tella adds that a secondary seal in the valve body helps to clean the gate of any material build-up and that, at the bottom of the valve, there is a void space with a flushing plate that can be removed to allow for the materials to be discarded.

Alternatively, the flushing plate can be equipped with flushing water to help clean the area of any build-up that might have accumulated.

She tells Mining Weekly that the slurry knife-gate valve series is based on ease of maintenance – a concept that is evident in their design and structure.

“One piece valve bodies in wafer and flanged knife-gate valves eliminate any potential leakages from the body and also enable universal tower construction that will accept any actuator and even allow for changing between the actuator types after the valve has been installed to the pipeline,” Tella explains.

The rubber ring sleeves inside the valves include integrated load distribution rings that ensure tight sealing between the gate and the valve and eliminate problems with overcompression, which can cause accidental damage to the rubber sleeves and also cause actuator-stalling, owing to the extreme force placed on the moving valve gate, she adds.

Tella explains that the field-replaceable ring sleeves are also the only parts in contact with the harsh mediums inside the pipeline, which effectively limits wear and tear, resulting in easy serviceability without having to replace the whole valve.

She says the slurry knife-gate valves have been sold to clients in South Africa, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco, with further interest shown from companies in Egypt and Tunisia.

Flowrox’s product portfolio includes heavy-duty industrial valves and pumps, flow-control automation solutions and comprehensive after-sales services.

The company is headquarted in Lappeenranta, Finland, with subsidiaries in Johannesburg, Linthicum, Sydney, Moscow and Shanghai, as well as a global sales network.