A salt extraction operation had to transfer shortly from an onshore to an offshore web site provided by 5 km of pipework. The firm turned to circulate control associate Celeros to help meet the unique circumstances encountered on the new salt properly.
Overview of the 2 new water injection pumps for single and parallel operation, following set up and commissioning on the Frisia Zout BV web site.
A new salt extraction plant off the north coast of Holland has been introduced online forward of schedule, preventing a possible halt in manufacturing when the prevailing onshore properly developed issues. Frisia Zout BV, part of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, was able to overcome the time and technical challenges of accelerating the project by working in partnership with Celeros Flow Technology (Celeros FT).
The bulk of the salt produced by Frisia Zout BV goes unfastened to a 40,000-tonne storage facility for supply in bulk to trade. The the rest is packed in smaller portions to be used in food manufacturing or made into cubes for water purification.
The salt is extracted beneath licence from the Dutch authorities. The existing borehole licence
allowed K+S to extract salt from underground on the mainland. Due to regulatory changes, the new licence would only permit extraction from subsea sources off the coast. Consequently, a model new borehole and associated plant was required on the Frisia Zout BV website.
New challenges
K+S started planning for a brand new pump constructing in 2017, and construction started in April 2020 with the goal of bringing it onstream before the prevailing extraction licence expired on the finish of 2021. However, unforeseen difficulties arose with the existing onshore properly, which meant that production would cease before anticipated. To bridge the hole, Frisia Zout BV started bringing in salt water by tanker, but this was an expensive various. As a outcome, it became crucial to bring the model new offshore well onstream as quickly as potential.
Time pressures weren’t the only challenges the company confronted. Due to the natural geology, the extraction route to the brand new offshore resource was not a straight bore: it changed course twice before reaching the salt deposits. In fact, the model new plant is fed by one of many deepest wells on the planet and has 5 km of pipework past the water injection pumps. As a outcome, the method water needs to be pumped in at high stress (250 barg) and at a high circulate price (450 m3/h) to extract the quantity of salt required, making the choice of pumps crucial to success.
Total solution
Frisia Zout BV has an extended and established relationship with Celeros FT by way of the ClydeUnion Pumps model, based not solely on the top quality of ITS OEM pumps but also on its capability to respond rapidly to any operational points. The firm turned to its trusted move control associate once again for help in meeting the unique circumstances encountered at the new salt properly.
pressure gauge 10 bar assessed the move necessities for the water injection course of on the new plant and verified that CUP-BB3 pumps could be made to fulfill necessities. The pumps had been specified with Duplex stainless-steel casings as a result of they’d be operating in a salt-laden setting. Celeros FT manufactured, provided, installed and commissioned the mission-critical pumps for injecting water into the model new offshore salt cavern, assembly unusual necessities for high pressure and high circulate charges. In addition, they supported Frisia Zout BV in bringing an older pump again into service as a spare: assessing it and upgrading the casing to make sure it met the model new obligation requirements.
Jouk Riemer, challenge manager for Frisia Zout BV, explained: “We have used CUP-BB3 pumps in the past and located that their multistage centrifugal design provides higher performance, in comparability with plunger pumps, for this software. We wished to make use of them once more for the new challenge. The Celeros FT staff responded to the challenges magnificently, utilizing their engineering expertise to determine the best solution to meet the pressure and move rates we required, delivering the pump skids to meet the brand new construction schedule and serving to us maintain the venture on observe.”
Future assured
The new salt extraction plant came online in December 2020. pressure gauge octa CUP-BB3 pumps meet the high stress and move charges required for the appliance and can run in parallel, which has improved productiveness. The availability of a spare pump provides additional confidence that production downtime will be minimal. The company’s capacity to meet the accelerated venture deadline is particularly impressive when you assume about that the Covid-19 pandemic was already affecting provides of supplies and elements. The Celeros FT group worked onerous to guarantee that this did not have any impact on their buyer.
Celeros FT additionally offered specialist engineering experience throughout the installation and commissioning part and will continue to ensure the pumps function satisfactorily all through the plant’s 15-year lifespan, though the pump constructing could additionally be required to serve multiple properly in future as demand for K+S excessive purity salt continues to develop. Easy replacement of wear components and ongoing service support from Celeros FT will ensure that the BB3 pumps proceed to fulfill operational parameters throughout the extraction plant’s lifetime.
Riemer mentioned: “The combination of high quality OEM equipment and practical engineering abilities supplied by Celeros Flow Technology was instrumental in delivering this challenge ahead of time. I’m satisfied it might have taken so much longer to get what we required from one other pump producer. The company’s responsiveness was essential in assembly our revised deadline, decreasing prices and preserving extraction at this site viable.” Riemer concluded: “This is the primary offshore extraction well we now have developed nevertheless it has been a largely constructive experience due to Celeros Flow Technology. They brought invaluable engineering expertise and specialist pump information to this challenge and are a elementary part of its success.”
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