Celeros Flow Technology has injected new life into a heritage pump for a Canadian heavy oil recovery customer, enabling them to increase production. The pump – a Mather & Platt BB5 – was more than 40 years previous and had been topic to numerous post-installation alterations.
Heavy oil deposits are extremely viscous and require the injection of high stress, high temperature steam to enhance fluidity and permit the oil to be pumped to the floor. In ไดอะแฟรม to spice up extraction on this venture, the client needed to extend water temperatures from 90° C to 140° C. However, there have been considerations that the existing pump might not be in a position to deliver this requirement. Nozzle loads were a specific concern. They turned to Celeros Flow Technology brand ClydeUnion Pumps, their most popular provider of some 20 years, for assistance.
Mather & Platt is one of a quantity of heritage pump brands for which Celeros Flow Technology provides full lifecycle support1. Their aftermarket engineering team undertook a radical examination of the quadragenarian Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) boiler feed water pump used in the heavy oil extraction process. The investigation revealed that the pump had suffered a quantity of seal failures over time that had broken the stuffing field and affected operational effectivity. There had also been no upkeep interventions for many years – however the pump had never really failed.
Says Mike Golds, Global Upgrade and Rerate Programme Manager for ClydeUnion Pumps: “It is testomony to the quality of the unique pump that it had continued to operate in such harsh circumstances and with no regular maintenance over such an extended time period. More importantly, it gave us confidence that a thorough overhaul may achieve the desired improvement in efficiency, saving the customer the fee and misplaced production time that may be related to sourcing and installing a new unit.”
pressure gauge octa overhauled the SAGD pump and performed a mechanical seal upgrade and Plan 23 seal flush to optimize pump performance. In addition, finite element evaluation was undertaken to confirm that the nozzle loads would face up to the specified temperature increase. As a outcome, the pump is now capable of delivering steam on the greater temperatures required. The seal upgrades ensure it meets the most recent specifications.
Concludes Mike Golds: “We are actually happy with the result of the SAGD pump upgrade. It has not only achieved the specified production increase for the customer, but in addition supplied a extra sustainable and cost-effective answer than total pump replacement. Using trendy engineering and evaluation, we’ve been able to give the existing pump a new lease of life and guarantee it will continue to perform well for lots of more years.”
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