Alberta, Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves within the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is a difficult process and requires the largest slurry pump in the oil sands trade.
When it involves pumping slurry, there can be only a few functions which might be more difficult than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands production. Not solely do the pumps have to deal with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they’re also expected to function in a few 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, namely 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 business and the most recent in a line of powerful high-pressure pumps supplied by GIW.
Slurry เพรสเชอร์เกจไฮดรอลิค covers a considerable vary of business sectors, ranging from meals and beverage to mining. What is widespread to all, is that the pumps used should have the flexibility to transport liquids containing particles and solids of various sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands manufacturing, the biggest problem is to accommodate high density slurry and extremely abrasive grits.
It is essential that the slurry passes via the pump with the minimum amount of wear to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump should be capable of delivering high flows and able to withstand harsh operating environments.
Alberta in Canada has in depth oil reserves and these are in the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is difficult, involving the removing of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then mixed with warm water to form a dense slurry that can be transported within the pipeline in path of extraction, the place the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are often transported via totally different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require extensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps capable of handling huge portions of liquids at excessive pressures and high temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy experience of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that mix superior supplies, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the latest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business development manager, explains more: “Our consumer wanted a higher capability pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at practically forty m of developed head and a maximum working pressure of 4000 kPa. The pump also needed to have the flexibility to move rocks of approximately one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage size requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in excess of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the client was focusing on a upkeep interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of round three,000 hours. They had expressed an interest in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on preliminary put on indications, they’re currently hoping to attain round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The immediate application 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 combination of water, bitumen, sand, and enormous rocks. Screens are in place to keep these rocks to a manageable dimension for the method, however the high measurement can nonetheless typically reach up to a hundred thirty mm in diameter or bigger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from different pumps used within the industry. Wear and erosion are information of life, and GIW has many years of experience in the design of slurry pumps and the event of materials to assist prolong the service life of these crucial parts to match the deliberate upkeep cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump able to the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a preferred dimension in mill duties for nearly 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 capability of dealing with larger rocks so we responded with the development of the TBC-92 which offered the best solution for maximised manufacturing.”
The TBC series The development style of GIW’s TBC pump range features large, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most wear performance. First developed for dredge service, then later introduced into the oil sands within the Nineties, the TBC pump series has grown into a totally developed vary of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and hard rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport purposes.
The pumps are often grouped collectively in booster stations to construct stress as excessive as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such long distances. The sturdy building of the TBC pump is well suited to do the job, while making certain maximum availability of the equipment beneath closely abrasive put on.
Capable of delivering pressure up to 37 bar and flows of greater than 18,200m³/h and temperatures up to 120o C, the TBC vary is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that offers maximum resistance to wear. Simple to keep up, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress loads away from the put on and tear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates with out the utilization of heavy and unwieldy double-wall development.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective elements of earlier TBC models, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also called the Super Pump. The pump additionally incorporates options from GIW’s MDX product line, which is used in heavy-duty mining circuits throughout the world of hard rock mining.
In complete, 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 features of the pump include a slurry diverter that dramatically will increase suction liner life by decreasing particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The giant diameter impeller allows the pump to run at slower speeds in order that put on life is enhanced. The lower speed additionally provides the pump the ability to function over a wider vary of flows so as to accommodate fluctuating circulate conditions.
To make upkeep simpler, the pump is fitted with a particular two-piece suction plate design which helps to scale back tool time and provide safer lifting. Customers obtain pump-specific lifting devices to facilitate the protected elimination and installation of wear comp- onents. The pump also contains a longlasting suction liner that can be adjusted without having to shut the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an necessary milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service in any respect working Canadian oil sands crops for hydrotransport purposes. The TBC-92 has been designed to sort out heavy-duty slurry transport whereas providing a low complete cost of possession. Minimal labour and upkeep time assist to maximise manufacturing and revenue.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings discovered from operating within the oil sands over many years, and features our latest hydraulic and wear applied sciences,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we have ever designed, explicit attention was given to maintainability, as well as material choice and development of the pressure-containing components.”
That GIW has established itself as a major pressure in pumping solutions for the oil sands business is far from shocking provided that it has been creating pumping technologies and wear resistant materials within the world mining business because the 1940s.
These pumps have had a substantial influence on the way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By adding water to the excavated materials it becomes 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’s transported, plus there is the extra good factor about eradicating using trucks.
GIW has estimated that the value of shifting oil sand in this means can reduce prices by US$2 a barrel, and it’s way more environmentally pleasant. These pumps additionally play a major position 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 the way they behave when being pumped has been fundamental to the development of these merchandise. GIW has been obtaining slurry samples from clients over a few years for testing hydraulics and supplies each for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development services embrace multiple slurry test beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that’s devoted to pump efficiency testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If firms are experiencing problems the GIW R&D personnel can see the place the problem lies and offer recommendation for remedial motion. เกจวัดไนโตรเจนราคา does point out that in many circumstances the issue lies not with the pump however, however in the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from customers about appli- cations helps within the development of new instruments and pump designs. By bringing to- gether prospects and lecturers from all round the world to share their expertise and analysis with in-house experts, the massive investment in analysis, improvement and manufacturing has advanced the design of all of the GIW pump merchandise,supplies and wear-resistant components.
The future “There is a clear trend towards larger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are no exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product manager. “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 facilities for higher and higher production and demanding the identical of the equipment that keeps their production moving. While these bigger pumps demand extra power, they also enable for greater production with less downtime required for maintenance. Overall, the efficiency improves when in comparison with the same output from a bigger quantity of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with larger facilities, bigger pipelines, and elevated production, all of which proceed to trend larger yr after 12 months. Other clients and industries have also proven an interest on this measurement, and it will be no surprise in any respect to see extra of these pumps built in the close to future for related functions.”
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