Alberta, Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves within the form of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is a difficult process and requires the most important slurry pump in the oil sands trade.
When it comes to pumping slurry, there may be only a few functions that are more difficult than the hydro-transport of professional quality slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not solely do the pumps have to cope with the highly aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they’re also expected to function in a number of the harshest environments in the world.
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, specifically the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its 92 in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the largest and heaviest slurry pump out there within the oil sands business and the latest in a line of highly effective high-pressure pumps offered by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a considerable vary of trade sectors, ranging from food and beverage to mining. What is frequent 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 important that the slurry passes via the pump with the minimum quantity of wear to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump should be capable of delivering high flows and capable of stand 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 difficult, involving the removal of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then blended with warm water to type a dense slurry that may be transported in the pipeline in direction of extraction, where the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are often transported through completely different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require intensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps capable of dealing with vast portions of liquids at high pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its long experience of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that mix advanced supplies, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the latest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business growth manager, explains extra: “Our shopper needed a better capacity 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 additionally wanted to be able to pass rocks of roughly 130 mm in diameter with a total passage size requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and handle slurry densities in excess of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was concentrating on a maintenance interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of around three,000 hours. They had expressed an interest in maximising the upkeep intervals and based mostly on preliminary put on indications, they are at present hoping to realize round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The instant software for the first batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service where they are used to maneuver 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 process, but the high size can still often reach up to 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 trade. Wear and erosion are information of life, and GIW has many years of experience within the design of slurry pumps and the event of supplies to help prolong the service life of these critical elements to match the planned maintenance cycles within the plant.
“GIW already had a pump able to the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a preferred measurement 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 larger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which offered one of the best resolution for maximised production.”
The TBC series The building type of GIW’s TBC pump vary options giant, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and maximum put on efficiency. First developed for dredge service, then later launched into the oil sands within the Nineteen Nineties, the TBC pump collection has grown into a totally developed range of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and onerous rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport applications.
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 strong building of the TBC pump is nicely suited to do the job, whereas ensuring maximum availability of the gear underneath heavily abrasive wear.
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 vary 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 loads away from the put on and tear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates without the use of heavy and unwieldy double-wall building.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective parts of earlier TBC models, including the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also known as the Super Pump. The pump also incorporates options from GIW’s MDX product line, which is utilized in heavy-duty mining circuits all through the world of hard rock mining.
In complete, 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 include a slurry diverter that dramatically will increase suction liner life by decreasing particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The massive diameter impeller permits the pump to run at slower speeds so that put on life is enhanced. The decrease pace also provides the pump the flexibility to function over a wider vary of flows to have the ability to accommodate fluctuating flow circumstances.
To make upkeep easier, the pump is fitted with a particular two-piece suction plate design which helps to reduce tool time and supply safer lifting. Customers receive pump-specific lifting units to facilitate the safe elimination and installation of put on and tear comp- onents. The pump additionally includes a longlasting suction liner that might be adjusted while not having to shut the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an important milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service at all working Canadian oil sands plants for hydrotransport applications. The TBC-92 has been designed to tackle heavy-duty slurry transport while offering a low whole value of possession. Minimal labour and upkeep time help to maximise production and revenue.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings discovered from operating in the oil sands over many years, and options our latest hydraulic and put on applied sciences,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because that is the heaviest TBC pump we’ve ever designed, explicit attention was given to maintainability, in addition to materials choice and construction of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a big force in pumping options for the oil sands trade is way from stunning given that it has been creating pumping applied sciences and put on resistant supplies within the world mining industry for the reason that 1940s.
These pumps have had a considerable impact on the means in which that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By including water to the excavated materials it turns into highly 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 might be the extra good thing about removing the utilization of trucks.
GIW has estimated that the price of shifting oil sand on this way can minimize costs by US$2 a barrel, and it is far more environmentally friendly. These pumps also play a serious function in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW supplies pumps used in the extraction course of and different areas of manufacturing (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding pressure gauge ไฮ ด รอ ลิ ค Understanding the character of slurries and the way they behave when being pumped has been basic to the event of those 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 facilities include a quantity of slurry test beds on the campus, together with a hydraulics laboratory that’s devoted to pump performance testing.
These activities are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If corporations are experiencing problems the GIW R&D personnel can see where the problem lies and provide recommendation for remedial action. Experience does indicate that in lots of cases the problem lies not with the pump nonetheless, but within the interaction between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from customers about appli- cations helps in the growth of new tools and pump designs. By bringing to- gether clients and teachers from all around the world to share their expertise and analysis with in-house specialists, the huge investment in research, development and manufacturing has advanced the design of the entire GIW pump products,supplies and wear-resistant parts.
The future “There is a transparent pattern toward bigger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are not any exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product supervisor. “The first TBC pump within the oil sands industry was the TBC-46 (46 in being the diameter of the impeller). Customers are designing their amenities for higher and better manufacturing and demanding the identical of the gear that retains their production transferring. While these larger pumps demand extra power, they also enable for higher production with less downtime required for upkeep. Overall, the effectivity improves when compared to the identical output from a larger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with bigger facilities, bigger pipelines, and increased production, all of which continue to pattern higher yr after year. Other clients and industries have additionally proven an interest on this size, and it might be no shock in any respect to see more of those pumps built within the close to future for comparable functions.”
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