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 course of and requires the largest slurry pump within the oil sands trade.
When it involves pumping slurry, there may be very few functions which may be tougher than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands production. Not solely do the pumps need to contend with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they’re additionally anticipated to operate in some of the harshest environments on the planet.
In January 2020, GIW Industries, Inc., a KSB firm, commissioned its largest ever heavy-duty centrifugal slurry pump for operation in Canada’s oil sands, particularly the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its ninety two in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the most important and heaviest slurry pump available in the oil sands trade and the newest in a line of powerful high-pressure pumps supplied by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a considerable range of business sectors, starting from meals and beverage to mining. What is common to all, is that the pumps used should have the ability to transport liquids containing particles and solids of varying sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands production, the largest problem is to accommodate excessive density slurry and highly abrasive grits.
It is essential that the slurry passes through the pump with the minimal quantity of damage to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump have to be capable of delivering excessive flows and in a place to face up to harsh working 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 challenging, involving the removing 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 may 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 different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require in depth use of slurry and water transportation pumps capable of handling huge quantities of liquids at excessive pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy experience of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that mix advanced materials, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the most recent of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business development supervisor, explains extra: “Our shopper wanted the next capacity pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at almost forty m of developed head and a maximum working stress of 4000 kPa. The pump additionally needed to have the ability to cross rocks of approximately a hundred thirty mm in diameter with a total passage dimension requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and handle slurry densities in excess of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was focusing on a upkeep interval (operational time between planned maintenance) of around 3,000 hours. They had expressed an curiosity in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on initial wear indications, they’re presently hoping to achieve around 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The immediate software 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 combination of water, bitumen, sand, and enormous rocks. เกจวัดแรงดันภาษาอังกฤษ are in place to keep these rocks to a manageable size for the process, however the high size can still typically attain up to 130 mm in diameter or larger.
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 materials to assist prolong the service life of these crucial parts to match the planned upkeep cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump able to the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a well-liked dimension 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 larger pressure capabilities and the aptitude of handling bigger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which provided the best resolution for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The building style of GIW’s TBC pump vary features giant, ribbed plates held along with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and maximum put on performance. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands in the 1990s, the TBC pump sequence has grown into a totally 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 together 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 construction of the TBC pump is properly suited to do the job, while ensuring maximum availability of the equipment under heavily abrasive put on.
Capable of delivering strain 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, finish suction centrifugal pump that provides most 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 using heavy and unwieldy double-wall construction.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective elements of earlier TBC models, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also referred to 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 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 features 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 large diameter impeller permits the pump to run at slower speeds in order that wear life is enhanced. The decrease pace also gives the pump the power to operate over a wider vary of flows to be able to accommodate fluctuating circulate conditions.
To make maintenance simpler, the pump is fitted with a particular two-piece suction plate design which helps to scale back software time and provide safer lifting. Customers receive pump-specific lifting devices to facilitate the safe removal and set up of put on and tear comp- onents. The pump additionally contains a longlasting suction liner that might be adjusted without needing to shut 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 operating Canadian oil sands crops for hydrotransport applications. The TBC-92 has been designed to tackle heavy-duty slurry transport whereas offering 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 in the oil sands over a few years, and features our newest hydraulic and wear technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we now have ever designed, explicit consideration was given to maintainability, as nicely as materials selection and construction of the pressure-containing components.”
That GIW has established itself as a big force in pumping options for the oil sands trade is much from shocking provided that it has been growing pumping applied sciences and wear resistant supplies in the global mining trade for the rationale that Forties.
These pumps have had a substantial impact on the greatest way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By adding water to the excavated material it turns into 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 may be the extra good factor about eradicating using trucks.
GIW has estimated that the price of transferring oil sand in this method can reduce costs by US$2 a barrel, and it’s way more environmentally friendly. These pumps also play a serious function in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW supplies pumps used within the extraction course of 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 fundamental to the event of those merchandise. GIW has been obtaining slurry samples from customers over many years for testing hydraulics and supplies each for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development facilities include a quantity of slurry test beds on the campus, together with a hydraulics laboratory that is devoted to pump efficiency testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If firms are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see where the problem lies and supply advice for remedial action. Experience does point out that in many cases the problem lies not with the pump nonetheless, but in the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from prospects about appli- cations helps within the growth of recent instruments and pump designs. By bringing to- gether clients and academics from everywhere in the world to share their expertise and research with in-house consultants, the huge investment in research, improvement and manufacturing has superior the design of all the GIW pump products,materials and wear-resistant parts.
The future “There is a clear trend toward bigger 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 amenities for larger and better production and demanding the identical of the tools that keeps their production shifting. While these bigger pumps demand more energy, they also allow for greater manufacturing with less downtime required for maintenance. Overall, the efficiency improves when compared to the same output from a larger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with larger amenities, larger pipelines, and elevated production, all of which continue to pattern higher yr after 12 months. Other clients and industries have additionally proven an curiosity on this dimension, and it might be no surprise in any respect to see extra of these pumps constructed in the close to future for related applications.”
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