Jul-2019

The right valves even for exceptional applications

Finding exactly the right valves for every customer is a problem which OHL Gutermuth solves every day. This company, based in Altenstadt, Hesse, also produces valves for special applications.

Wolfgang Röhrig
OHL Gutermuth Industrial Valves

Article Summary

Finding exactly the right valves for every customer is a problem which OHL Gutermuth solves every day. This company, based in Altenstadt, Hesse, also produces valves for special applications. OHL Gutermuth works according to strict criteria and pays attention to effective quality control. In the end, the products fulfil a wide variety of requirements.

Following its motto, “Made in Germany”, OHL Gutermuth offers perfect solutions for shutting off and regulating, even for applications which must meet particularly high safety standards. There are many reasons for the company’s high-quality work. These include such things as decades of experience resulting in concentrated expertise. The beginnings of the company go back to 1867, when OHL was founded in Limburg. In 1923, Gutermuth was founded in Frankfurt. Of course, an extraordinary treasure trove of experience has accumulated in all those decades. This was concentrated in 1992, when the two companies merged to form OHL Gutermuth Industrial Valves GmbH in Altenstadt. The result is the expertise of two naturally grown specialist companies.

Custom-made valves for special applications - Certified quality
The company has it in black and white that the products from OHL Gutermuth are of high quality. They fulfil the TÜV-certified quality management requirements in accordance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 3834 and the Pressure Equipment Directive PED Module H. The valves are also certified in accordance with the Russian TRCU, TSG, CRN and API. OHL Gutermuth also has an official approval from Gazprom. What is more, the company has, for instance, the Fire Safe Certificate in accordance with API 6FA and BS6755. This in turns offers more safety and economic efficiency for future-oriented solutions. Incidentally, OHL Gutermuth is among the first suppliers able to meet the strict environmental requirements of the Technical Instruction on Air Quality  Control  (TA Luft) and ISO  15848.

“The designs we developed achieve exemplary values,” emphasizes Managing Director Wolfgang Röhrig. Thanks to the many certifications, OHL Gutermuth can independently produce and test the largest portion of its production program.

The company also has an SIL certification for its butterfly valves with metallic and soft sealing, whose reliability was ascertained by a “proven in use” study in collaboration with a well-known university. In order to receive the certifications, OHL Gutermuth sets itself high standards.

“Convincing engineering and the highest quality are important elements making this possible for us,” explains Wolfgang Röhrig. A marked aware-ness of quality is part of the company’s conception of itself..

Individual consultancy
Proven quality in one thing that OHL Guter-muth can offer its customers. Individual customisation is another on which the company puts great value. That is why “individual consultancy for the customer is first and foremost in our efforts,” says Wolfgang Röhrig. This makes us ask what customers want exactly – OHL Gutermuth then successfully looks for the solution. Whoever wants to prevail in the market must look to the future. Therefore OHL Gutermuth is constantly developing its products further. “The final products are constantly undergoing stress tests and revised and refined based on the latest findings,” the Managing Director of OHL Gutermuth emphasizes. An important basis of quality is also the company’s great store of experience. Many reference plants around the world enable products to be developed to meet customers’ specific wishes and requirements. This makes it possible to constantly optimize performance and technical innovations. For this reason, it is a matter of course for OHL Gutermuth to invest above-average amounts in machines, plants and staff.

Orders from the solar industry
The solar industry is one of the many industries to which OHL Gutermuth supplies its valves. And has been doing so for years – before other manufacturers had even taken notice of it. In recent years, the company has received orders for a large number of projects, as in Spain, for instance, including the solar power plants Andasol 1, 2, 3; Extresol 1, 2 and Manchasol 1, 2. Each of these had a volume of between half a million and two million euros. Now OHL Gutermuth has approx. fifty reference solar power plants – most of them in Spain, but also in North- and South-Africa, VAE, North- and Middle-America. At the moment we supply the first projects in China.

OHL Gutermuth has been able to distinguish itself as an expert in the solar industry because this industry has its very own expectations. “As the heat transfer oil for which we supply the regulating and shut-off valves is highly viscous and toxic, special designs were developed for sealing and regulating,” Wolfgang Röhrig ex-plains.

Qualified employees
The company places great value on its team. “The basis for the tasks and possibilities of the future are the performance capability and commitment of the individual,” Wolfgang Röhrig emphasizes. In order to keep ahead of the international competition for quality in the long term, OHL Gutermuth invests considerable sums in providing support and advanced education for its specialised employees at all levels and in all areas. After all, qualified employees are what you need for long-term success.” The store of experience the company can draw on is also invaluable. In the many projects it has already completed, OHL Gutermuth has gained new insights over and over again. “We have provided special valves for more than 150 gas purifying plants in the past 45 years, including the biggest in the world in Europe, Russian, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, India, China, the Middle East and North and South America,” says Wolfgang Röhrig.

A wide variety of industries put their trust in products from OHL Gutermuth. Some of the major industries here are the chemical, petrochemical, and environmental engineering industries, as well as sugar mills. In addition, refrigeration engineering and shipbuilding customers put their trust in the company’s butterfly and throttle valves.  Butterfly valves are also supplied to power stations and incineration plants. Post-combustion systems, metallurgy, industrial furnace construction, exhaust air technology and air-conditioning equipment rely on throttle valves from OHL Gutermuth. Valves are used in the plant construction, chemical and environmental engineering industries, as well as in natural and refinery gas desulphurisation plants.

Broad product portfolio
In order to be able to supply the right products to the many different industries, OHL Gutermuth carries a broad portfolio. Some of the valves are laid out for nominal widths of up DN 4000, pressures of more than 200 bar and temperatures from -196°C to +1300°C. The product range also includes throttle valves, butterfly valves, other valves and special valves.

The triple eccentric KX Safeflex, for instance, is used in power plants, steel mills, district heating systems, solar plants and desulphurisation plants, as well as in the paper and cellulose, chemical, petrochemical and sugar industries. The triple eccentric butterfly valve is a purely metallic sealing valve. It combines properties, functions and variety of uses which are particularly economical. Yet KX Safeflex meets the highest standards of operating safety and durability at high pressures, temperatures and dynamic loads. Densities from “very hot” to “very cold” are guaranteed. The gasket is a solid, rotationally symmetrical sealing ring made of stainless steel. The metallic sealing ring can be smoothly removed by immediate lifting it from its seat, guaranteeing the highest level of operating safety and durability.