75% lower emissions than metal alternatives: The Butterfly Valve 565 with marine approvals

In 2022, experts of the leading certification societies in the maritime sector, Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Bureau Veritas (BV), American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Lloyd's Register (LR), and RINA confirmed: The lightweight Butterfly Valve 565 with its materials and components in nine sizes has been tested for the safe operation onboard ships.

In order to evaluate the performance of the plastic Butterfly Valve 565, Swiss flow solutions provider GF Piping Systems additionally commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment by the independent institute Swiss Climate AG. The system boundaries as well as the quality and scope of the LCA were defined in accordance with the Product Category Rule (PCR) 2019:143. To put the results into context, a Butterfly Valve 565 DN100 was compared to an equivalent metal valve in the same configuration. Furthermore, the LCA was used as the basis for an Environmental Product Declaration, a standardized and third-party verified document that estimates environmental impacts and enables comparisons between similar products.

Swiss Climate AG has come to the conclusion that the plastic valve outperforms the metal valve in a number of key areas.

-        The Butterfly Valve 565 emits 26% fewer greenhouse gas emissions when comparing the individual service lives of the two materials.

-        This gap increases to 75% when taking into account that the metal valve would have to be replaced around three times during the 565’s 23-year lifespan.

-        The plastic valve has a 21% lower water footprint.

Roberto Chiesa, Head of Business Development Marine at GF Piping Systems, sees the results as another important milestone for the Butterfly Valve 565. “Our plastic piping systems have been approved and implemented across the marine industry in a wide range of applications. Thanks to the comparative analysis by Swiss Climate AG as well as the EPD certification, we can now also demonstrate the sustainability of the material. With the future in mind, plastic solutions can therefore be an important part of a larger strategy to make shipping more sustainable.”

The Butterfly Valve 565 is a wafer-style valve designed for water and water treatment applications and is suitable for a wide range of plastic piping systems and flange standards. The 565 features a very high pressure and temperature resistance (PN16 at 80°C). Furthermore, the material properties of its plastic components lead to a 60% lower weight compared to metal and make it more cost-effective due to a longer service life and lower maintenance requirements. Standard digital interfaces allow the Butterfly Valve 565 to be equipped with additional accessories and various types of actuation.

The results of the Butterfly Valve 565’s Life Cycle Assessment and the comparison with a metal alternative have been published in a whitepaper available here.