Water waste is often deemed an undesirable, however inevitable by-product of mining processes. Yet เกจ์ออกซิเจนsumo sealing technology exists which can virtually remove this waste whereas conserving energy, enhancing pump reliability and achieving long run operational financial savings.
Water is considered one of the most significant, and increasingly imperilled, resources on earth. That much is known and acknowledged by industries across the globe.
However, it is also some of the unnecessarily squandered assets in mining operations. And whereas the industry has begun to embrace effectivity and sustainability-led advances similar to automation and renewable vitality, it stays steadfastly set in its methods when it comes to slurry pump technology.
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 vital limitations, together with poor reliability, reduced mean times between failure (MTBF), intensive maintenance necessities and better operational costs.
These elements alone ought to give mine managers cause for a re-evaluation of the sealing strategies used on slurry pumps. However, any firm with a dedication to the International Standards Organisation ISO-14001 Standard for environmental management methods and ISO-50001 Standard for vitality administration systems ought to pay attention to the excessive water waste and excessive power consumption that results from opting for these conventional sealing strategies.
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 elements of slurry processing which is seal flush water injection.
On gland packed pumps it’s important that packing is flushed with clear water to keep it cool and lubricated, whereas each single slurry seals and expellers require a provide of cool, clean flush water to be injected into the method at excessive pressure, maintaining a stable fluid film between the fragile seal faces to keep them cool and lubricated, whereas forcing the damaging slurry away.
The flush water required in all three sealing approaches is provided from an exterior source and injected into the process at the next strain than the stuffing field strain, in line with the trade commonplace American Petroleum Institute (API) Piping Plan 32. Water which doesn’t leak onto the bottom or into the process is sent to the tailings dam. This also has an effect on the water steadiness of the plant.
This method constitutes a loss of clean water amounting to billions of gallons a year globally. One giant, conventional slurry pump usually consumes 10 US gallons (37.8 litres) per minute, amounting to 5.2 million US gallons (19.6 million litres) of water yearly – a surprising statistic by any measure.
At a time when world water provide is predicted to fall wanting demand by some 40% by 20301 , removing pointless use of this priceless useful resource ought to arguably be a central plank of any responsible sustainability programme. Yet excessive water use, and the higher energy consumption it entails, stay embedded in the processes of many mining firms. Worse still, it is truthful to say that it is often accepted as merely ‘par for the course’ by reliability engineers and management alike.
But the fact is that water waste on any scale is a completely pointless feature of slurry operations as it can be almost totally eradicated just by using superior double mechanical seals and modern water management support techniques.
Improve reliability The sort of seal chosen, the setting by which it operates, and crucially, the tank help system which provides the water to maximise seal life, combine to provide the solution to excessive water waste and energy use.
Modern double mechanical seals have two sets of faces, one sealing to the method fluid and one to atmosphere, with a barrier area between the two. They are designed to fulfill the arduous requirements of heavy responsibility slurry applications, with fortified metal parts that are highly proof against corrosion and erosion. Large ports and elevated radial clearances imply the lubrication which is important to optimising seal life is maintained constantly and constantly.
A pressurised barrier tank system is central to the environmental sustainability of this resolution. It employs a thermosiphon course of which provides clean, cool water to the barrier house between the double seals at a strain larger than the product pressure, guaranteeing a constant, secure and clean fluid movie to maintain the seal faces cool and lubricated.
As the mechanical seals generate warmth, the new water in the barrier area rises to the tank and is radiated to the ambiance, permitting the cooler, denser water to sink again down to provide cool lubrication to the seal faces. Most importantly, the flush water is constantly recycled, flowing throughout 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 number of slurry pumps in a ‘series train’ without the necessity to set up particular pump systems, pressurised barrier tanks provide scores as much as 435 psi (30 bar), making them perfect for these functions. Self-topping and self-pressurising, they are also virtually maintenance-free.
Where no plant water provide is out there for topping up the tank methods, or the availability has inadequate stress, fluid delivery items may be selected to supply the barrier fluid to seal faces. These have the added advantages of being in a position to supply a water/glycol combination or oil to provide freeze safety in extremely chilly climates.
Wide-ranging benefits The benefits of upgrading to modern sealing solutions and help techniques had been felt by a coal mine in Poland using a slurry pump to provide coal mud at 9 bar (135 psi) to filter press. Flushed packing resulted in large dilution of product, resulting in significantly elevated filtration times and costs. The pump was sealed with a double mechanical seal designed to satisfy the arduous requirements of the method.
The supporting seal tank system lowered leakage and product dilution to virtually zero. Return on funding was swift and the financial savings long-term. The benefits in phrases of water conservation have been equally longlasting and the company’s status enhanced.
The mining industry must cope with a tough and dear problem in phrases of sustaining rotating equipment. But the planning, processing and disposal of flush water constitutes an operational and monetary burden which is entirely avoidable.
And when a company can remove water waste concurrently rising reliability and reducing long term operational costs, the choice to upgrade to modern methods should certainly be an ethical crucial in addition to making sound enterprise sense.
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