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 difficult process and requires the largest slurry pump in the oil sands trade.
When it comes to pumping slurry, there could be only a few purposes that are more challenging than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands production. Not solely do the pumps need to deal with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are additionally anticipated to operate in a variety 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, namely the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its 92 in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the biggest and heaviest slurry pump out there in the oil sands trade and the most recent in a line of highly effective high-pressure pumps supplied by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a considerable range of trade sectors, starting from meals 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 manufacturing, the biggest challenge is to accommodate high density slurry and extremely abrasive grits.
It is important that the slurry passes by way of the pump with the minimal amount of damage to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump have to be able to delivering excessive flows and capable of face up to 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 elimination of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then combined with warm water to type a dense slurry that could be transported within the pipeline in the course of extraction, where the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are sometimes transported by way of totally different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to handling vast portions of liquids at high pressures and high 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 newest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business growth supervisor, explains more: “Our shopper needed a better capacity pump which was capable of 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at practically forty m of developed head and a most working pressure of 4000 kPa. The pump additionally wanted to be able to cross rocks of approximately a hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage size requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and handle slurry densities in extra of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was targeting a maintenance interval (operational time between planned maintenance) of around 3,000 hours. They had expressed an curiosity in maximising the maintenance intervals and based mostly on initial wear indications, they’re currently hoping to attain around 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 mixture of water, bitumen, sand, and large rocks. Screens are in place to keep these rocks to a manageable dimension for the method, however the high size can nonetheless often attain up to a hundred thirty mm in diameter or larger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from different pumps used in the trade. Wear and erosion are information of life, and GIW has many years of experience within the design of slurry pumps and the development of materials to assist extend the service life of these crucial components 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 software required a pump with higher stress capabilities and the aptitude of dealing with bigger rocks so we responded with the development of the TBC-92 which supplied one of the best solution for maximised manufacturing.”
pressure gauge ยี่ห้อ tk of GIW’s TBC pump vary options large, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most put on efficiency. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands within the Nineteen Nineties, 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 strain as high as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such long distances. The sturdy development of the TBC pump is nicely suited to do the job, whereas making certain maximum availability of the tools underneath closely abrasive put on.
Capable of delivering pressure up to 37 bar and flows of greater than 18,200m³/h and temperatures as a lot as 120o C, the TBC range is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that offers maximum resistance to wear. Simple to take care of, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress masses away from the put on and tear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing facet plates with out the use of heavy and unwieldy double-wall development.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective parts of earlier TBC fashions, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also identified as the Super Pump. The pump additionally incorporates features 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 equivalent to a fully-loaded Airbus A321 aeroplane. The casing alone weighs 34,000 lbs (15,500 kg). Key options of the pump embrace a slurry diverter that dramatically will increase 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 in order that wear life is enhanced. The decrease velocity additionally offers the pump the power to function over a wider range of flows in order to accommodate fluctuating circulate conditions.
To make maintenance simpler, the pump is fitted with a special two-piece suction plate design which helps to reduce tool time and supply safer lifting. Customers receive pump-specific lifting units to facilitate the secure elimination and installation of wear comp- onents. The pump additionally includes a longlasting suction liner that could 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 at all operating Canadian oil sands vegetation for hydrotransport purposes. The TBC-92 has been designed to deal with heavy-duty slurry transport whereas providing a low whole price of possession. Minimal labour and upkeep time assist to maximise production and profit.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings learned from working within the oil sands over many years, and features our latest hydraulic and put on applied sciences,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because that is the heaviest TBC pump we now have ever designed, explicit consideration was given to maintainability, as properly as materials selection and building of the pressure-containing parts.”
That GIW has established itself as a big drive in pumping solutions for the oil sands industry is much from stunning given that it has been developing pumping applied sciences and put on resistant supplies in the global mining trade for the explanation that Forties.
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 efficient 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 could be the additional benefit of eradicating the utilization of vehicles.
GIW has estimated that the cost of moving oil sand in this means can reduce costs by US$2 a barrel, and it’s much more environmentally pleasant. These pumps additionally play a significant function in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW provides pumps used in the extraction process and other areas of manufacturing (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the character of slurries and how they behave when being pumped has been fundamental to the development of those merchandise. GIW has been acquiring slurry samples from clients over many years for testing hydraulics and supplies each for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development services embrace multiple slurry test beds on the campus, together with a hydraulics laboratory that is dedicated to pump performance testing.
These activities are central to the company’s pump improvement programmes. If corporations are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see the place the issue lies and provide recommendation for remedial action. Experience does point out that in many circumstances the issue lies not with the pump however, however in the interaction between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from customers about appli- cations helps within the improvement of latest instruments and pump designs. By bringing to- gether customers and teachers from everywhere in the world to share their experience and analysis with in-house experts, the huge investment in research, development and manufacturing has advanced the design of the entire GIW pump products,materials and wear-resistant components.
The future “There is a transparent development towards larger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands aren’t any exception,” feedback 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 amenities for larger and higher production and demanding the same of the equipment that keeps their production moving. While these bigger pumps demand more power, additionally they permit for larger manufacturing with less downtime required for maintenance. Overall, the efficiency improves when in comparison with the identical output from a larger quantity of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with bigger amenities, bigger pipelines, and increased manufacturing, all of which continue to development greater year after year. Other prospects and industries have also shown an curiosity in this measurement, and it will be no surprise at all to see extra of these pumps built within the near future for comparable functions.”
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