Celeros Flow Technology has injected new life into a heritage pump for a Canadian heavy oil recovery customer, enabling them to increase manufacturing. Unconditional – a Mather & Platt BB5 – was greater than forty years old and had been topic to numerous post-installation alterations.
Heavy oil deposits are extraordinarily viscous and require the injection of high pressure, excessive temperature steam to enhance fluidity and allow the oil to be pumped to the surface. In order to boost extraction on this challenge, the shopper needed to extend water temperatures from 90° C to 140° C. However, there have been concerns that the prevailing pump might not be capable of deliver this requirement. Nozzle masses had been a particular concern. They turned to Celeros Flow Technology brand ClydeUnion Pumps, their most well-liked provider of some 20 years, for assistance.
Mather & Platt is certainly one of several heritage pump brands for which Celeros Flow Technology offers full lifecycle support1. Their aftermarket engineering team undertook a radical examination of the quadragenarian Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) boiler feed water pump used within the heavy oil extraction process. The investigation revealed that the pump had suffered numerous seal failures over time that had damaged the stuffing box and affected operational efficiency. There had also been no upkeep interventions for many years – however the pump had by no means actually failed.
Says Mike Golds, Global Upgrade and Rerate Programme Manager for ClydeUnion Pumps: “It is testament to the standard of the unique pump that it had continued to operate in such harsh situations and with no common upkeep over such a protracted time frame. More importantly, it gave us confidence that a thorough overhaul could obtain the specified improvement in performance, saving the client the cost and lost production time that can be associated with sourcing and putting in a new unit.”
Celeros Flow Technology overhauled the SAGD pump and performed a mechanical seal improve and Plan 23 seal flush to optimize pump performance. In addition, finite factor evaluation was undertaken to verify that the nozzle hundreds would stand up to the desired temperature improve. As a result, the pump is now capable of delivering steam at the higher temperatures required. The seal upgrades ensure it meets the newest specs.
Concludes Mike Golds: “We are actually happy with the outcome of the SAGD pump upgrade. It has not solely achieved the specified manufacturing enhance for the client, but additionally offered a more sustainable and cost-effective resolution than total pump alternative. Using trendy engineering and analysis, we now have been able to give the prevailing pump a new lease of life and ensure it will proceed to perform nicely for many more years.”
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