เกจวัดแก๊สlpg , Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves in the form of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is a challenging process and requires the most important slurry pump in the oil sands business.
When it involves pumping slurry, there may be only a few applications which might be more difficult than the hydro-transport of skilled quality slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not only do the pumps need to deal with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are also expected to function in some of the harshest environments on the planet.
In January 2020, GIW Industries, Inc., a KSB company, commissioned its largest ever heavy-duty centrifugal slurry pump for operation in Canada’s oil sands, particularly the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its ninety two in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the most important and heaviest slurry pump available within the oil sands trade and the newest in a line of highly effective high-pressure pumps offered by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a considerable range of trade sectors, ranging from food and beverage to mining. What is frequent to all, is that the pumps used should be able to transport liquids containing particles and solids of varying sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands production, the biggest problem is to accommodate excessive density slurry and extremely abrasive grits.
It is important that the slurry passes by way of the pump with the minimal quantity of wear to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump have to be able to delivering high flows and capable of withstand harsh working environments.
Alberta in Canada has intensive oil reserves and these are within the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is difficult, involving the elimination of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then mixed with heat water to type a dense slurry that might be transported in the pipeline towards extraction, where the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are often transported via completely different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to handling vast portions of liquids at excessive pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its long experience of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that combine advanced materials, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the latest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business growth supervisor, explains more: “Our shopper needed a better capability pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at practically forty m of developed head and a most working strain of 4000 kPa. The pump also wanted to have the ability to move rocks of roughly one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage size requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in extra of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the shopper was focusing on a upkeep interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of around 3,000 hours. They had expressed an curiosity in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on initial put on indications, they’re presently hoping to achieve round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The immediate utility for the primary batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service the place they’re used to move bitu- minous ore from the crusher to the extraction plant. The liquid pumped is a mixture of water, bitumen, sand, and large rocks. Screens are in place to maintain these rocks to a manageable size for the method, however the top dimension can still typically attain as a lot as 130 mm in diameter or larger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from other pumps used within the industry. Wear and erosion are facts of life, and GIW has decades of expertise in the design of slurry pumps and the development of supplies to help prolong the service life of these important elements to match the deliberate upkeep cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump capable of the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a well-liked dimension in mill duties for almost 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s utility required a pump with greater stress capabilities and the capability of dealing with bigger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which provided one of the best resolution for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The construction type of GIW’s TBC pump range features massive, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most put on performance. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands in the Nineteen Nineties, the TBC pump collection has grown into a completely developed range of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and exhausting rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport functions.
The pumps are often grouped together in booster stations to construct strain as excessive as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such long distances. The sturdy construction of the TBC pump is nicely suited to do the job, whereas ensuring most availability of the gear beneath closely abrasive wear.
Capable of delivering pressure as much as 37 bar and flows of more than 18,200m³/h and temperatures as much as 120o C, the TBC range is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that provides maximum resistance to wear. Simple to take care of, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress masses away from the wear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing side plates with out the utilization of heavy and unwieldy double-wall development.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective parts of earlier TBC fashions, including the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also referred to as the Super Pump. The pump also incorporates options from GIW’s MDX product line, which is used in heavy-duty mining circuits all through the world of exhausting rock mining.
In whole, the TBC-92 weighs about 209,000 lbs (95,000 kg), which is roughly equal to a fully-loaded Airbus A321 aeroplane. The casing alone weighs 34,000 lbs (15,500 kg). Key options of the pump embody a slurry diverter that dramatically will increase suction liner life by decreasing particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The large diameter impeller allows the pump to run at slower speeds in order that put on life is enhanced. The lower speed also provides the pump the flexibility to function over a wider vary of flows so as to accommodate fluctuating move conditions.
To make upkeep easier, the pump is fitted with a particular two-piece suction plate design which helps to reduce device time and provide safer lifting. Customers obtain pump-specific lifting devices to facilitate the safe elimination and installation of damage comp- onents. The pump additionally features a longlasting suction liner that might be adjusted while not having to close the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an necessary milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service at all working Canadian oil sands crops for hydrotransport purposes. The TBC-92 has been designed to deal with heavy-duty slurry transport whereas offering a low total price of possession. Minimal labour and upkeep time assist to maximise manufacturing and profit.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings learned from working within the oil sands over a few years, and options our latest hydraulic and put on technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we’ve ever designed, specific consideration was given to maintainability, as properly as material selection and construction of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a big drive in pumping solutions for the oil sands business is much from stunning given that it has been creating pumping technologies and wear resistant materials within the world mining trade since the Forties.
These pumps have had a considerable influence on the best way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By adding water to the excavated materials it turns into extremely environment friendly to pump the slurry along a pipeline to the upgrader. The pipeline agitation assists in separating the bitumen from the sand as it is transported, plus there might be the extra good factor about eradicating the use of vehicles.
GIW has estimated that the value of moving oil sand in this method can reduce costs by US$2 a barrel, and it is way more environmentally friendly. These pumps also play a serious role in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW provides pumps used in the extraction course of and other areas of production (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the nature of slurries and how they behave when being pumped has been fundamental to the development of these products. GIW has been acquiring slurry samples from customers over a few years for testing hydraulics and materials each for pumps and pipelines. เกจวัดแรงดันน้ำ & Development services include multiple slurry test beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that’s dedicated to pump efficiency testing.
These activities are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If corporations are experiencing problems the GIW R&D personnel can see where the issue lies and provide recommendation for remedial motion. Experience does indicate that in lots of instances the issue lies not with the pump nevertheless, but within the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from clients about appli- cations helps within the development of recent instruments and pump designs. By bringing to- gether prospects and lecturers from all around the world to share their experience and analysis with in-house consultants, the large funding in analysis, improvement and manufacturing has advanced the design of the entire GIW pump products,materials and wear-resistant elements.
The future “There is a transparent pattern toward larger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are no exception,” feedback Leo Perry, GIW lead product manager. “The first TBC pump in the oil sands industry was the TBC-46 (46 in being the diameter of the impeller). Customers are designing their amenities for larger and better production and demanding the identical of the gear that keeps their manufacturing transferring. While these bigger pumps demand extra energy, in addition they allow for larger production with less downtime required for maintenance. Overall, the efficiency improves when in comparability with the same output from a bigger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with bigger amenities, larger pipelines, and elevated production, all of which continue to trend higher yr after year. Other customers and industries have also proven an curiosity on this measurement, and it will be no shock in any respect to see extra of those pumps constructed within the close to future for similar purposes.”
Share