Water waste is usually deemed an undesirable, however inevitable by-product of mining processes. Yet fashionable pump sealing technology exists which may virtually get rid of this waste whereas conserving power, enhancing pump reliability and attaining long run operational financial savings.
Water is certainly one of the most important, and increasingly imperilled, assets on earth. That เพรสเชอร์เกจคือ is understood and acknowledged by industries across the globe.
However, it is also one of the unnecessarily squandered resources in mining operations. And while the business has begun to embrace effectivity and sustainability-led advances similar to automation and renewable power, it stays steadfastly set in its ways when it comes to slurry pump know-how.
Three approaches are routinely specified by pump producers to seal slurry pumps: mechanical packing, expellers (also known as ‘dynamic’ seals’) and single mechanical seals. All include significant limitations, including poor reliability, decreased imply times between failure (MTBF), intensive maintenance requirements and better operational costs.
These elements alone ought to give mine managers cause for a re-evaluation of the sealing methods used on slurry pumps. However, any firm with a dedication to the International Standards Organisation ISO-14001 Standard for environmental management systems and ISO-50001 Standard for power administration methods should pay attention to the excessive water waste and high energy consumption that outcomes from choosing these traditional sealing methods.
Inefficient sealing When used to seal the process pumps in a mine’s scrubber and floatation circuits, gland packing, single mechanical seals and expeller seals all demand one of the wasteful aspects of slurry processing which is seal flush water injection.
On gland packed pumps it’s important that packing is flushed with clean water to keep it cool and lubricated, whereas both single slurry seals and expellers require a supply of cool, clear flush water to be injected into the method at excessive strain, maintaining a stable fluid film between the delicate seal faces to maintain them cool and lubricated, while forcing the damaging slurry away.
The flush water required in all three sealing approaches is equipped from an exterior source and injected into the method at a better stress than the stuffing field strain, in line with the trade normal American Petroleum Institute (API) Piping Plan 32. Water which doesn’t leak onto the bottom or into the method is shipped to the tailings dam. This also has an effect on the water balance of the plant.
This method constitutes a loss of clear water amounting to billions of gallons a yr globally. One massive, conventional slurry pump usually consumes 10 US gallons (37.8 litres) per minute, amounting to five.2 million US gallons (19.6 million litres) of water yearly – a stunning statistic by any measure.
At a time when world water supply is predicted to fall short of demand by some 40% by 20301 , eradicating pointless use of this useful useful resource ought to arguably be a central plank of any accountable sustainability programme. Yet extreme water use, and the higher power consumption it entails, stay embedded in the processes of many mining corporations. Worse still, it’s honest to say that it’s typically accepted as simply ‘par for the course’ by reliability engineers and administration alike.
But the precise fact is that water waste on any scale is a totally pointless characteristic of slurry operations as it can be virtually totally eradicated just by using superior double mechanical seals and fashionable water administration support methods.
Improve reliability The kind of seal chosen, the setting during which it operates, and crucially, the tank assist system which provides the water to maximise seal life, combine to provide the answer to excessive water waste and power use.
เพรสเชอร์เกจคือ have two units of faces, one sealing to the process fluid and one to ambiance, with a barrier area between the 2. They are designed to fulfill the arduous necessities of heavy responsibility slurry purposes, with fortified metal components that are extremely immune to corrosion and erosion. Large ports and increased radial clearances mean the lubrication which is significant to optimising seal life is maintained continually and consistently.
A pressurised barrier tank system is central to the environmental sustainability of this answer. It employs a thermosiphon course of which provides clean, cool water to the barrier house between the double seals at a strain greater than the product stress, ensuring a constant, stable and clean fluid movie to keep the seal faces cool and lubricated.
As the mechanical seals generate heat, the new water within the barrier space rises to the tank and is radiated to the environment, permitting the cooler, denser water to sink back down to offer cool lubrication to the seal faces. Most importantly, the flush water is constantly recycled, flowing across the seal faces in a steady loop and reducing leakage to the absolute minimum, roughly a teaspoonful a day.
While API Plan 32 is unsuitable for servicing a quantity of slurry pumps in a ‘series train’ without the necessity to set up special pump techniques, pressurised barrier tanks provide scores as a lot as 435 psi (30 bar), making them best for these functions. Self-topping and self-pressurising, they’re additionally virtually maintenance-free.
Where no plant water provide is on the market for topping up the tank systems, or the supply has inadequate stress, fluid supply models can be selected to provide the barrier fluid to seal faces. These have the added advantages of with the power to supply a water/glycol combination or oil to supply freeze protection in extraordinarily cold climates.
Wide-ranging advantages The advantages of upgrading to modern sealing options and help techniques were felt by a coal mine in Poland utilizing a slurry pump to produce coal mud at 9 bar (135 psi) to filter press. Flushed packing resulted in big dilution of product, leading to greatly increased filtration instances and costs. The pump was sealed with a double mechanical seal designed to satisfy the arduous necessities of the method.
The supporting seal tank system lowered leakage and product dilution to virtually zero. Return on investment was swift and the savings long-term. The benefits by means of water conservation have been equally longlasting and the company’s popularity enhanced.
The mining industry should take care of a tough and expensive challenge in relation to maintaining rotating gear. But the planning, processing and disposal of flush water constitutes an operational and monetary burden which is completely avoidable.
And when a company can remove water waste simultaneously growing reliability and decreasing long term operational costs, the choice to upgrade to trendy techniques should absolutely be a moral crucial in addition to making sound business sense.
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