Dutch company Wouter Witzel EuroValve received an order for butterfly valves for the ‘Pieter Schelte’ project, described as the ‘world’s largest ship’.
The six type EVUS DN2200 valves will be supplied with two actuator flanges. Each valve will be operated by two hydraulic actuators. The valves are specially designed, with an opening time of 4s. This time is required in order to enable fast deballasting during topside removal operations, when, according to WW EuroValve, in the final stage of this operation, a 2m rapid lift-off eliminates the risk of impact between topside and jacket.
The Pieter Schelte is a 382m long, 117m wide dynamically positioned platform installation/ decommissioning and pipelaying vessel which will accommodate up to 571 workers. The topsides lift capacity is 48,000t and jacket lift capacity is 25,000t, with a pipelay tension capacity of 2,000t. The vessel is being built for operator Allseas at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Korea, and it is scheduled to start offshore operations in early 2014.
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Source: Maritime by Holland, October 12, 2011; Image: Allseas