Alberta, 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 within the oil sands business.
When it comes to pumping slurry, there could be very few functions which are more difficult than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not only do the pumps should contend with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are additionally expected to function in a variety of the harshest environments on the earth.
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 ninety two in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the biggest and heaviest slurry pump available within the oil sands industry and the latest in a line of highly effective high-pressure pumps offered by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a substantial range of business sectors, ranging from meals and beverage to mining. What is common to all, is that the pumps used must be capable of transport liquids containing particles and solids of various 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 crucial that the slurry passes through the pump with the minimum quantity of damage to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump have to be capable of delivering high flows and able to stand up to harsh operating environments.
Alberta in Canada has extensive 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 removal of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then blended with heat water to type a dense slurry that can be transported in the pipeline towards extraction, the place the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are often transported through totally different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to dealing with huge portions of liquids at high pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy expertise of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that combine superior supplies, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the newest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business improvement supervisor, explains extra: “Our client wanted the next capability pump which was capable of 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at nearly 40 m of developed head and a most working pressure of 4000 kPa. The pump additionally needed to have the ability to pass rocks of approximately one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a total passage dimension requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in extra of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was concentrating on a upkeep interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of round three,000 hours. They had expressed an curiosity in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on initial wear indications, they’re currently hoping to attain around 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The instant utility for the first batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service where they’re used to maneuver 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 dimension for the method, however the prime measurement can still typically attain as a lot as a hundred thirty mm in diameter or bigger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from different pumps used in the industry. Wear and erosion are information of life, and GIW has decades of expertise in the design of slurry pumps and the event of supplies to assist lengthen the service life of these critical elements to match the planned maintenance cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump able to the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a preferred measurement in mill duties for almost 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s software required a pump with higher stress capabilities and the capability of dealing with larger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which supplied one of the best answer for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The building fashion of GIW’s TBC pump range options large, ribbed plates held along with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most wear performance. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands in the Nineties, the TBC pump sequence has grown into a fully developed range of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and onerous rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport purposes.
The pumps are sometimes grouped collectively in booster stations to build stress as high as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such lengthy distances. เกจวัดแรงดันpsi of the TBC pump is well suited to do the job, while guaranteeing maximum availability of the tools beneath heavily abrasive wear.
Capable of delivering stress up to 37 bar and flows of greater than 18,200m³/h and temperatures up to 120o C, the TBC range is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that offers maximum resistance to put on. Simple to take care of, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress hundreds away from the wear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates with out the usage of heavy and unwieldy double-wall building.
The TBC-92 combines one of the best elements of earlier TBC models, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also referred to as the Super Pump. The pump also incorporates features from GIW’s MDX product line, which is utilized in heavy-duty mining circuits all through the world of exhausting rock mining.
In total, the TBC-92 weighs about 209,000 lbs (95,000 kg), which is roughly equivalent 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 increases suction liner life by lowering particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The massive diameter impeller permits the pump to run at slower speeds so that put on life is enhanced. The lower speed also gives the pump the power to function over a wider vary of flows in order to accommodate fluctuating flow conditions.
To make maintenance easier, the pump is fitted with a particular two-piece suction plate design which helps to scale back software time and supply safer lifting. Customers obtain pump-specific lifting units to facilitate the protected removing and installation of wear comp- onents. The pump also includes a longlasting suction liner that may be adjusted without having to close the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an essential milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service at all working Canadian oil sands crops for hydrotransport functions. The TBC-92 has been designed to deal with heavy-duty slurry transport while offering a low whole value of possession. Minimal labour and maintenance time assist to maximise production and revenue.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings learned from working in the oil sands over a few years, and features our latest hydraulic and put on technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we have ever designed, specific attention was given to maintainability, as nicely as materials choice and construction of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a significant pressure in pumping options for the oil sands trade is much from stunning provided that it has been developing pumping technologies and wear resistant supplies in the world mining trade because the Nineteen Forties.
These pumps have had a substantial impact on the way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By including water to the excavated materials it becomes extremely efficient to pump the slurry alongside a pipeline to the upgrader. The pipeline agitation assists in separating the bitumen from the sand as it’s transported, plus there’s the extra benefit of removing the usage of vehicles.
GIW has estimated that the price of shifting oil sand on this way can cut prices by US$2 a barrel, and it is far more environmentally friendly. These pumps also play a significant position in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW supplies pumps used in the extraction process and other areas of manufacturing (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the nature of slurries and how they behave when being pumped has been elementary to the event of those merchandise. GIW has been obtaining slurry samples from customers over many years for testing hydraulics and materials both for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development services embody a quantity of slurry take a look at beds on the campus, together with a hydraulics laboratory that is devoted to pump performance testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump development programmes. If firms are experiencing problems the GIW R&D personnel can see where the problem lies and provide recommendation for remedial action. Experience does indicate that in plenty of circumstances the problem lies not with the pump nevertheless, however in the interaction between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from clients about appli- cations helps in the improvement of latest tools and pump designs. By bringing to- gether prospects and lecturers from all around the world to share their experience and research with in-house specialists, the huge investment in analysis, improvement and manufacturing has superior the design of all of the GIW pump merchandise,materials and wear-resistant parts.
The future “There is a clear trend towards bigger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands aren’t any exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product supervisor. “The first TBC pump within the oil sands industry was the TBC-46 (46 in being the diameter of the impeller). Customers are designing their amenities for greater and higher production and demanding the same of the equipment that retains their manufacturing shifting. While these bigger pumps demand extra energy, additionally they enable for higher manufacturing with much less downtime required for upkeep. Overall, the effectivity improves when in comparison with the same output from a bigger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with larger amenities, larger pipelines, and increased production, all of which proceed to trend greater 12 months after 12 months. Other prospects and industries have also proven an curiosity on this size, and it would be no surprise in any respect to see more of these pumps constructed within the close to future for related applications.”
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