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 biggest slurry pump in the oil sands business.
When it involves pumping slurry, there can be very few functions that are more challenging than the hydro-transport of heavy-duty slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not only do the pumps have to cope with the extremely aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are also anticipated to function in a variety of the harshest environments on the planet.
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 trade and the most recent in a line of highly effective high-pressure pumps provided by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a substantial vary of business sectors, ranging from meals and beverage to mining. What is widespread to all, is that the pumps used should be capable of transport liquids containing particles and solids of varying 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 crucial that the slurry passes via 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 high flows and able to withstand harsh working 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 combined with heat water to type a dense slurry that may be transported within the pipeline in course of extraction, the place the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are sometimes transported via different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to dealing with vast portions of liquids at high pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its long 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 enterprise development supervisor, explains more: “Our client wanted the next capability pump which was capable of 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at almost forty m of developed head and a most working stress of 4000 kPa. The pump also needed to be able to cross rocks of approximately one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage measurement requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in extra of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the client was targeting a upkeep interval (operational time between planned maintenance) of around 3,000 hours. They had expressed an interest in maximising the upkeep intervals and based mostly on preliminary wear indications, they are at present hoping to attain round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The immediate 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 mix of water, bitumen, sand, and enormous rocks. Screens are in place to maintain these rocks to a manageable measurement for the process, however the top size can still usually attain as much as one 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 a long time of expertise within the design of slurry pumps and the development of materials to help extend the service life of these important elements to match the deliberate upkeep cycles in the plant.
“GIW already had a pump capable of the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a well-liked measurement in mill duties for nearly 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s utility required a pump with larger stress capabilities and the capability of dealing with bigger rocks so we responded with the development of the TBC-92 which supplied the best solution for maximised manufacturing.”
The TBC collection The development fashion of GIW’s TBC pump range features massive, 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 1990s, the TBC pump series has grown into a fully developed vary of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and onerous rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport applications.
The pumps are often grouped collectively in booster stations to construct pressure as high as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such long distances. The robust development of the TBC pump is well suited to do the job, while ensuring most availability of the equipment beneath heavily abrasive wear.
Capable of delivering strain up to 37 bar and flows of more than 18,200m³/h and temperatures up to 120o C, the TBC vary is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that provides most resistance to wear. Simple to keep up, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress loads away from the wear and tear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates with out using heavy and unwieldy double-wall construction.
The TBC-92 combines one of the best components of earlier TBC fashions, including the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also known as 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 total, the TBC-92 weighs about 209,000 lbs (95,000 kg), which is roughly equal 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 decreasing particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The large diameter impeller permits the pump to run at slower speeds in order that put on life is enhanced. The decrease speed additionally offers the pump the ability to operate over a wider vary of flows to be able to accommodate fluctuating circulate 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 provide safer lifting. Customers receive pump-specific lifting gadgets to facilitate the protected removal and installation of damage comp- onents. The pump also features a longlasting suction liner that can be adjusted without needing to close the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an important milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service in any respect operating Canadian oil sands plants for hydrotransport applications. The TBC-92 has been designed to tackle heavy-duty slurry transport whereas offering a low whole cost of ownership. Minimal labour and maintenance time assist to maximise production and profit.
“This new pump incorporates the lessons learned from operating within the oil sands over many years, and options our latest hydraulic and wear technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because that is the heaviest TBC pump we’ve ever designed, specific attention was given to maintainability, as properly as materials choice and building of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a big pressure in pumping solutions for the oil sands business is far from stunning provided that it has been creating pumping technologies and put on resistant materials in the world mining industry because the Forties.
เกจวัดแรงดัน10bar 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 highly efficient to pump the slurry alongside a pipeline to the upgrader. The pipeline agitation assists in separating the bitumen from the sand as it is transported, plus there might be the additional good factor about eradicating the utilization of vehicles.
GIW has estimated that the value of transferring oil sand on this method can cut prices by US$2 a barrel, and it is way more environmentally pleasant. These pumps additionally play a significant function in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW provides pumps used within the extraction process 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 those merchandise. GIW has been acquiring slurry samples from clients over many years for testing hydraulics and supplies both for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development services embrace a number of slurry take a look at beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that is dedicated to pump performance testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump improvement programmes. If firms are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see the place the issue lies and supply advice for remedial action. Experience does point out that in many circumstances the issue lies not with the pump nonetheless, but within the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from customers about appli- cations helps in the development of latest instruments and pump designs. By bringing to- gether customers and lecturers from everywhere in the world to share their expertise and research with in-house consultants, the massive funding in research, improvement and manufacturing has superior the design of the entire GIW pump products,supplies and wear-resistant parts.
The future “There is a clear development toward bigger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands aren’t any exception,” feedback Leo Perry, GIW lead product supervisor. “The first TBC pump within the oil sands business 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 identical of the gear that retains their manufacturing shifting. While these larger pumps demand more energy, in addition they enable for larger manufacturing with much less downtime required for maintenance. 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 bigger amenities, bigger pipelines, and increased manufacturing, all of which proceed to development larger yr after year. Other customers and industries have also proven an interest on this size, and it will be no surprise in any respect to see extra of those pumps built within the near future for comparable purposes.”
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