KSB’s slurry dealing with success in oil sands

Alberta, Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves in the type 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 comes to pumping slurry, there can be only a few functions which are more challenging than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not only do the pumps need to contend with the highly aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are additionally anticipated to function in a few of the harshest environments in the world.
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, specifically the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its 92 in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the largest and heaviest slurry pump obtainable in the oil sands trade and the newest in a line of powerful high-pressure pumps provided by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a substantial range of trade sectors, starting from meals and beverage to mining. What is frequent to all, is that the pumps used should be succesful of transport liquids containing particles and solids of varying sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands production, the largest challenge is to accommodate high density slurry and extremely abrasive grits.
It is crucial that the slurry passes via the pump with the minimal quantity of put on and tear to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, เกจ์วัดแรงดันน้ำมันเครื่อง have to be able to delivering high flows and capable of face up to harsh operating environments.
Alberta in Canada has intensive oil reserves and these are in the form 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 combined with heat water to kind a dense slurry that can be transported in the pipeline in the direction of extraction, the place the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are often transported through completely different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to dealing with huge quantities of liquids at high pressures and high temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy expertise of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that mix superior supplies, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the newest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW enterprise development manager, explains more: “Our client wanted a better capacity pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at nearly forty m of developed head and a maximum working strain of 4000 kPa. The pump additionally wanted to have the ability to pass rocks of roughly one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a total passage measurement requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in excess of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was focusing on a maintenance interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of around three,000 hours. They had expressed an curiosity in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on initial put on indications, they are currently hoping to realize around 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The quick utility for the primary batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service the place they are used to move bitu- minous ore from the crusher to the extraction plant. The liquid pumped is a mix of water, bitumen, sand, and enormous rocks. Screens are in place to keep these rocks to a manageable size for the process, but the high size can still typically reach up to 130 mm in diameter or bigger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from other pumps used within the trade. Wear and erosion are facts of life, and GIW has decades of experience within the design of slurry pumps and the development of supplies to help prolong the service life of those critical components to match the planned upkeep cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump capable of the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a preferred size in mill duties for almost 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s application required a pump with greater pressure capabilities and the potential of handling larger rocks so we responded with the development of the TBC-92 which provided the most effective resolution for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The construction type of GIW’s TBC pump vary options giant, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most wear performance. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands within the 1990s, the TBC pump series has grown into a totally developed range of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and hard rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport applications.
The pumps are sometimes grouped collectively in booster stations to construct pressure as high as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such lengthy distances. The strong construction of the TBC pump is well suited to do the job, while ensuring most availability of the tools underneath heavily abrasive wear.
Capable of delivering stress up to 37 bar and flows of more than 18,200m³/h and temperatures up to 120o C, the TBC vary is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that gives maximum resistance to wear. Simple to take care of, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress masses away from the damage resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates without the use of heavy and unwieldy double-wall construction.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective parts of earlier TBC models, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also recognized as the Super Pump. The pump additionally incorporates features from GIW’s MDX product line, which is used in heavy-duty mining circuits throughout the world of onerous rock mining.
In total, 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 features of the pump embody a slurry diverter that dramatically increases suction liner life by decreasing particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The massive diameter impeller permits the pump to run at slower speeds in order that put on life is enhanced. The lower speed also gives the pump the ability to operate over a wider vary of flows to have the ability to accommodate fluctuating flow circumstances.
To make upkeep easier, the pump is fitted with a special two-piece suction plate design which helps to cut back device time and supply safer lifting. Customers obtain pump-specific lifting units to facilitate the protected elimination and set up of wear and tear comp- onents. The pump also features a longlasting suction liner that can be adjusted without having to close the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an important milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service in any respect operating Canadian oil sands plants for hydrotransport purposes. The TBC-92 has been designed to tackle heavy-duty slurry transport while offering a low whole value of ownership. Minimal labour and upkeep time help to maximise production and profit.
“This new pump incorporates the lessons learned from working within the oil sands over many years, and options our latest hydraulic and put on technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we have ever designed, particular attention was given to maintainability, as nicely as material selection and building of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a major drive in pumping solutions for the oil sands industry is far from shocking provided that it has been developing pumping applied sciences and put on resistant supplies in the international mining business for the explanation that Forties.
These pumps have had a considerable impression on the way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By adding water to the excavated material it becomes highly efficient to pump the slurry alongside a pipeline to the upgrader. The pipeline agitation assists in separating the bitumen from the sand as it is transported, plus there may be the additional benefit of eradicating the use of trucks.
GIW has estimated that the worth of moving oil sand on this means can cut costs by US$2 a barrel, and it’s much more environmentally pleasant. These pumps additionally play a serious role in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW supplies pumps used in the extraction process and different areas of production (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the character of slurries and the way they behave when being pumped has been basic to the event of these merchandise. GIW has been acquiring slurry samples from clients over many years for testing hydraulics and supplies both for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development amenities embrace a quantity of slurry take a look at beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that is dedicated to pump efficiency testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If corporations are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see where the issue lies and provide advice for remedial action. Experience does point out that in plenty of instances the problem lies not with the pump nevertheless, but within the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from prospects about appli- cations helps within the improvement of new tools and pump designs. By bringing to- gether prospects and lecturers from all round the world to share their expertise and research with in-house consultants, the huge funding in research, development and manufacturing has superior the design of the entire GIW pump merchandise,materials and wear-resistant components.
nuova fima pressure gauge ราคา There is a transparent pattern towards larger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are not any exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product supervisor. “The first TBC pump in the oil sands business was the TBC-46 (46 in being the diameter of the impeller). Customers are designing their services for larger and better production and demanding the same of the equipment that retains their manufacturing moving. While these larger pumps demand extra energy, additionally they enable for larger production with much less downtime required for maintenance. Overall, the effectivity improves when in comparison with the identical output from a larger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with bigger facilities, larger pipelines, and elevated production, all of which continue to development greater year after 12 months. Other clients and industries have additionally proven an curiosity on this measurement, and it would be no shock at all to see more of those pumps built in the close to future for related functions.”
Share