Global supplier of high-alloy steel components Steloy Castings credits its share of the international and South African petrochemicals market to conforming with the stringent quality-assurance requirements necessitated by the petrochemicals industry, in addition to the standards of the European Union’s Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). The implementation of PED has enhanced the company’s procedures and systems.

As the first South African PED-certified foundry and materials supplier, Steloy is accredited to produce castings (in materials that include carbon, low-alloy steels and stainless steels) for manufacturers of pressurised equipment for sale into the European common market. This has, therefore, increased opportunities for Steloy in the European market and has allowed the company to expand its horizons.

“The process of producing petrochemicals involves specialised equipment and systems, including pressure vessels, piping and associated pressure equipment to handle hazardous materials safely. “This type of equipment often operates over a range of high pressures at extreme temperatures and in harsh environments,” says Steloy Castings materials and quality director Leon Jonker.

Since Steloy received the PED accreditation in 2007, Jonker says that it has produced valve bodies for the European market and the implicit safety and reliability of its products have been significant.

Steloy Castings has effectively built on its established accreditation by the South African Bureau of Standards and Germany’s Technical Monitoring Association by further enhancing its mandate for high quality and service excellence through the PED accreditation, says Jonker.

“It is common knowledge that with extreme conditions comes a certain level of hazard and the consequences of component failure could be catastrophic, resulting in serious damage and loss in terms of human life and property. “It is clear that the design and construction of pressure equipment need to take into account stringent quality and safety requirements to prevent such catastrophic failures from occurring,” he points out.

Steloy states that being qualified to produce PED-class castings allows pressure-equipment manufacturers to attach the coveted Conformité Européenne mark to each item of pressure equipment and, as a result, significant time and cost savings, usually associated with third-party inspections to ensure the verification of materials, are experienced.

Pressure-Equipment Directive
The PED stems from the European Community’s programme for the elimination of technical barriers to trade and is formulated under the New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and Standards. Its purpose is to harmonise the national laws of member States regarding the design, manufacture, testing and conformity assessment of pressure equipment and the assemblies of pressure equipment.

It aims to ensure the free placing of the equipment on the market and put it into service within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA is the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The PED provides a flexible regulatory environment that does not impose any detailed technical solution and

pertains to items such as vessels, pressurised storage containers, heat exchangers, steam generators, boilers, industrial piping, safety devices and pressure accessories.

Such pressure equipment is widely used in process industries (oil and gas, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber, as well as food and beverage), high-temperature process industries (glass, paper and board), energy production, the supply of utilities, heating and air conditioning, as well as in gas storage and transportation.