Grease system for high pressure plug valves

A method of distributing high viscosity grease to at least one plug valve, comprising:

• loading a cartridge by loading a first space within the cartridge with solid grease, the first space defined by a first wall of a piston movable within the cartridge and a first end wall of the cartridge;
• attaching the cartridge to a manifold having a manifold chamber and a plurality of valves in fluid communication with the manifold chamber;
• introducing a fluid under constant pressure into a second space within the cartridge, the second space defined by a second opposing wall of the piston and a second end wall of the cartridge, to drive the piston and compress the solid grease within the first space of the cartridge and produce flowing grease;
• transmitting the flowing grease from the first space of the cartridge to the manifold chamber;
• and
• wherein all of the plurality of valves are open for distributing the flowing grease to corresponding grease ports of the at least one plug valve.

A system for distributing high viscosity grease to at least one plug valve, comprising:

• a detachable cartridge comprising:
• a body defining a chamber;
• a piston disposed within the chamber and defining a first space adapted to receive solid grease and a second opposing space for receiving fluid for driving the piston to compress the solid grease received within the first space;
• an outlet in fluid communication with the first space for providing flowing grease from the first space under compression from the piston;
• and
• an inlet in fluid communication with the second space for introducing fluid into the second opposing space for driving the piston;
• and
• a manifold for detachable coupling to the detachable cartridge and having a manifold chamber for receiving flowing grease from the outlet of the cartridge and a plurality of valves in fluid communication with the manifold chamber for selectively distributing grease from the manifold chamber to conduits for selective coupling to corresponding grease ports of the at least one plug valve.