Equivalents & Comparisons
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The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) are two major regulatory organizations intended to establish guidelines for both manufacturers and end users in the valve selection, manufacture, design, lab (type) testing & certification, quality, and to drive standardization among the largely competitive oil and gas market to operate continuously at the best possible efficiency.
API is solely dedicated to the petroleum and energy industries while ISO rarely publishes industry-specific standards.
In the past, there has been cooperation between ISO and U.S. valve standards makers, however due to local governing regulations, requirements, and inability to reach agreements regarding intellectual property rights, there has been a shift in design and testing standard requirements. Using API and ISO Certified valves helps to not only improve production and revenue, but more importantly safety and quality.
There are many equivalent designs, testing, and quality standards between API and ISO, here are some examples that pertain to the valve market that standout:
&#; API 6A & ISO
&#; API 6D & ISO
&#; API 600 & ISO
&#; API 602 & ISO
&#; API 608 & ISO
&#; API 598 & ISO
&#; API 624, API 641 & ISO -1
API 6FA, API 6FB, API 6FD (&#;API 6F Series&#;), API 607 & ISO
API Q1 & ISO and many more.
Certification
While API necessitates companies to implement standards for licensing and certification, ISO remains a certification body where participation is predominantly voluntary. For leading manufactures, implementing both sets of quality standards is part of the cost of doing business.
Both organizations establish a minimum set of design parameters with which the manufacturer must comply to claim design conformity, but the actual quality of product and its safety for intended use is displayed through the valve testing and certification process. Qualification/certifications ensure the product meets certain design standards and desired functionality expectations.
Top ISO & API Certifications to Consider in the Valve Market
1. Fugitive Emissions Testing:
With an increasing number of consent decrees set forth by the Environmental Protectional Agency (EPA) to abide by the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, valve fugitive emission control has been a hot topic in the US market. It is also a growing concern in the refinery and chemical process industries and lot of work is put in place to set acceptable limits and criteria.
API has since developed the standard API 622: type testing of process valve packing for fugitive emissions. This standard is to guide the packing manufacturers to set limits for the packing, in order to meet the EPA consent decree requirements. The latest developments in the standard include addition of High temperature testing of graphite packing.
Alongside, API has also developed type testing standards of valves for fugitive emissions:
&#; API 624: Rising stem valves
&#; API 641: Quarter turn valves
Both the valve type testing standards require the graphite seals to be incompliance to API 622.
An equivalent ISO standard for fugitive emission valve type testing is ISO , which has been classified into 2 parts:
&#; Part 1: Type test
&#; Part 2: Production valve testing
The type testing requirement in ISO , Part 1 is more complicated and stringent compared to API test requirement. It allows different levels of test parameters such as fugitive emission levels, number of mechanical cycles, stem seal adjustments, temperature ranges, choice of test media, and endurance classes.
The tests performed between API and ISO cannot be compared as the methodology used and governing factors are very different. Ultimately, the decision lies with the user to specify the minimum acceptance criteria to meet their specific operating conditions.
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The testing and certifications for ISO are not mandated by their design standards and allows the manufacturer to determine if the market necessitates the need for testing and certifying the valve. The API standards, on the other hand have embedded these fugitive testing standard requirements into the valve design standards to enforce the American Clean Air act right from the design phase of the valve.
2. Firesafe Testing:
Firesafe testing is another critical part in the valve design; it is solely intended to keep personnel, process, facilities, and equipment safe from fire hazards when the valves are subjected to dangers of fire accidents and explosion.
The &#;API 6F Series&#; is for evaluating the valves designed under API 6A and API 6D. These standards are maintained under the API wing of valves and well-head equipment, an upstream oil and gas segment. The downstream oil and gas refinery segment has developed standard API 607 for evaluating the fire testing capabilities of quarter turn valves and other valves equipped with non-metallic seating. The scope of this standard is currently under revision to include fire testing capability of metallic seats for quarter turn valves to avoid any misinterpretation.
While API fire testing standards are written considering both the upstream (well head) and downstream (refinery) segments differently, ISO originally adopted API 6FA, an upstream segment fire testing standard to create ISO . With recent updates, the most current edition of ISO is more equivalent to API-607 (refining segment) and is different than API 6FA testing requirements.
Valve manufacturers often choose to dual certify their valve testing when the testing requirements overlap or are in close proximities. Until , API 6FA and ISO were considered equivalent standards so the tests could have been dual certified to meet both. Now, the API 607 and ISO current standard editions are mirror like, so valve testing can be dual certified to meet both test standards.
3. Quality Certification:
Valve manufacturers receive their quality management certifications by successfully demonstrating their ability to meet safe manufacturing practices and other supporting processes in their quality management system for doing business.
A certification shows that the product adheres to the expectations and qualifications of the latest standards set in the industry and the manufacturing organization is keeping up with the latest industry standards and regulations. Quality certification is both crucial and necessary for valve manufacturers to demonstrate their product worthiness and differentiate themselves in this fast paced and competitive market.
Quality and safety are two terms that go hand in hand &#; a product that meets the set quality standard requirements is safer to use than the product for which none exist.
ISO informs and guides several industry leaders around the world for manufacturing processes, safety requirements, quality assurance, and more. ISO is a singular measure within the body of the ISO standards that specifies requirements for a quality management system when an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products/services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
ISO : is the current version of ISO quality management system and has several updates from its previous version with main focal points on measuring and properly assessing the input and output processes, risk-based thinking to solve potential problems, leadership, and commitment from all levels of the organization. Quality Certifications to ISO are very common in valve industry and serve as one of the basic requirements to differentiate between product and process quality. All requirements are generic and are intended to apply to any organization regardless of the product type.
On the other hand, API qualifications are specifically developed for natural gas and oil businesses. Historically API quality management requirements are in line with ISO - but in it parted ways to elaborate and exceed the quality management requirements to make API Q1, 9th edition. The latest version of these guidelines was issued in , with a large focus on risk management and risk assessment, a new addendum added in for supply chain requirements and an Errata addressed in for Product Quality plans.
Following are some key differences between the two systems that should be noted:
&#; Formal approach to the training of employees and personnel competency
&#; Emphasis of risk management and risk assessment (Potential problem accessing)
&#; Contingency planning (Potential problem prevention plan)
&#; Control within the supply chain
&#; Design Validation
&#; Preventive maintenance
&#; Management of change.
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