Alberta, Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves within the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is a difficult course of and requires the biggest slurry pump in the oil sands business.
When it comes to pumping slurry, there could be only a few purposes which would possibly be tougher than the hydro-transport of heavy-duty slurries in oil sands production. Not solely do the pumps should contend with the highly aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are also anticipated to operate in a few of the harshest environments on the earth.
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 92 in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the most important and heaviest slurry pump obtainable within 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 substantial range of industry sectors, ranging from meals and beverage to mining. What is common to all, is that the pumps used must be capable of transport liquids containing particles and solids of various sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands production, the most important problem is to accommodate high density slurry and extremely abrasive grits.
It is important that the slurry passes through 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 high flows and in a position to face up to harsh working environments.
Alberta in Canada has intensive oil reserves and these are within the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is challenging, involving the elimination of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then mixed with warm water to kind a dense slurry that can be transported in the pipeline in the course of extraction, the place 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 extensive use of slurry and water transportation pumps able to handling huge portions of liquids at excessive pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy expertise of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that combine advanced supplies, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the most recent of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW enterprise improvement manager, explains more: “Our consumer wanted the next capacity pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at practically 40 m of developed head and a maximum working stress of 4000 kPa. The pump also needed to have the ability to move rocks of roughly one hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage size requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and deal with slurry densities in extra of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the customer was focusing on a upkeep interval (operational time between planned maintenance) of round 3,000 hours. pressure gauge had expressed an interest in maximising the maintenance intervals and based on initial wear indications, they’re presently hoping to achieve round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The quick application for the first batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service where they’re 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 measurement for the process, but the prime dimension can still often reach 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 in the trade. Wear and erosion are facts of life, and GIW has decades of experience in the design of slurry pumps and the development of supplies to help lengthen the service life of these crucial elements to match the planned upkeep cycles within the plant.
“GIW already had a pump capable of the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a preferred dimension in mill duties for practically 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s application required a pump with higher pressure capabilities and the capability of dealing with larger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which supplied the best solution for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The building fashion of GIW’s TBC pump vary options large, ribbed plates held along with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and maximum wear efficiency. First developed for dredge service, then later introduced into the oil sands within the 1990s, the TBC pump sequence has grown into a fully developed vary 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 build stress as excessive 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 making certain most availability of the gear under closely abrasive wear.
Capable of delivering stress as a lot as 37 bar and flows of greater than 18,200m³/h and temperatures as much as 120o C, the TBC vary is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that provides maximum resistance to put on. Simple to take care of, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress masses away from the wear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing side plates with out using heavy and unwieldy double-wall building.
The TBC-92 combines one of the best components of earlier TBC models, including 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 utilized 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 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 pace also gives the pump the ability to function over a wider vary of flows to find a way to accommodate fluctuating flow conditions.
To make upkeep simpler, the pump is fitted with a special two-piece suction plate design which helps to reduce software time and provide safer lifting. Customers obtain pump-specific lifting devices to facilitate the safe removing and set up of damage comp- onents. The pump also includes a longlasting suction liner that can be adjusted without having 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 functions. The TBC-92 has been designed to deal with heavy-duty slurry transport while providing a low whole value of possession. Minimal labour and maintenance time help to maximise production and profit.
“This new pump incorporates the lessons learned from operating in the oil sands over many years, and options our newest hydraulic and wear technologies,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because that is the heaviest TBC pump we have ever designed, explicit consideration was given to maintainability, in addition to material selection and construction of the pressure-containing components.”
That GIW has established itself as a significant pressure in pumping options for the oil sands industry is far from shocking provided that it has been growing pumping applied sciences and put on resistant materials in the international mining business for the reason that 1940s.
These pumps have had a considerable impact on the greatest way that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By including water to the excavated material it turns into 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’s transported, plus there is the additional benefit of eradicating the usage of vans.
GIW has estimated that the price of moving oil sand on this way can reduce prices by US$2 a barrel, and it’s far more environmentally pleasant. These pumps also play a serious position in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW supplies pumps used in the extraction course of and other areas of manufacturing (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the character of slurries and the way they behave when being pumped has been elementary to the event of these merchandise. GIW has been acquiring slurry samples from customers over many years for testing hydraulics and materials both for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development services include multiple slurry check beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that’s dedicated to pump performance testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump growth programmes. If corporations are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see where the problem lies and supply recommendation for remedial motion. Experience does indicate that in many circumstances the problem lies not with the pump nevertheless, but within the interplay between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from clients about appli- cations helps within the growth of new tools and pump designs. By bringing to- gether customers and academics from all over the world to share their experience and analysis with in-house consultants, the massive investment in analysis, growth and manufacturing has advanced the design of the entire GIW pump merchandise,supplies and wear-resistant components.
The future “There is a clear trend towards bigger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are not any exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product supervisor. “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 facilities for larger and higher manufacturing and demanding the identical of the equipment that keeps their manufacturing shifting. While these bigger pumps demand extra power, in addition they permit for higher production with less downtime required for upkeep. Overall, the effectivity improves when in comparability with the identical output from a bigger amount of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with larger amenities, larger pipelines, and increased manufacturing, all of which continue to trend greater year after year. Other customers and industries have also proven an interest in this size, and it will be no shock in any respect to see extra of those pumps constructed in the near future for related functions.”
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