The Members of the ESA Packings Division are manufacturers and suppliers of all types of compression packings and are dedicated to providing products which protect the environment from pollution to land, water and the atmosphere.

Compression Packings are vital to the proper performance of critical components in almost every industry and our members work together to ensure that:

• Our customers are given the best possible advice on how to handle and use our products.
• We collaborate in generic research to better understand product behaviour and properties and bridge knowledge gaps.
• We work with national and international bodies to make sure standards and legislation relating to our products take account of best practice and are truly relevant.
• We encourage the development and training of young engineers and technicians in compression packing technology.

Current Projects

Valve Packing Testing with Hydrogen
The ESA Packings Division is working with the University DHBW Mannheim in Germany on a project to test different packing types to compare hydrogen and helium leakage rates at room and elevated temperatures.

Specification for Gland Packings manufactured from Yarns and Ribbons
This specification, developed by a Technical Task Force of ESA and FSA members, was submitted to CEN as a NWIP for a new European standard. In CEN/TC 197 it was accepted as a new working item and a working group WG3 has been established. The working group is currently developing the standard. It aims to characterise and define material properties for packings and its materials.

Online Packing Training Courses

A basic packings training course has been developed and implemented in a Learning Management System. Designed as an introduction to this method of sealing, the course aims to help engineers, technicians and users of packings understand what packings are and how and when they can be used successfully. This course provides a new way for packing users to learn about the application, construction, materials, and installation of compression packings for optimum performance in pumps and valves. A second course providing basic training about trouble shooting packing application problems has been added too. Further training modules will be developed in the future.

Sealing Devices Fugitive Emissions Reduction Document

Sealing technology is involved in virtually all of the sectors covered by the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) 2010/75/EU. Yet, only limited information and guidance on sealing options is available in most of the BREF notes which have been published to date. For this reason, the ESA has produced a Sealing Devices Fugitive Emissions Reduction Document, with sections covering the best available techniques for sealing solutions.

All details can be found in the various published BAT Reference Documents (BREF) which all refer to Best Available Techniques (BATs) which are an integral part of all reference BREFs. This document is available on the BATIS system for all BREFs.