A salt extraction operation had to move quickly from an onshore to an offshore web site equipped by 5 km of pipework. The firm turned to circulate control associate Celeros to help meet the distinctive circumstances encountered at the new salt nicely.
Overview of the 2 new water injection pumps for single and parallel operation, following set up and commissioning at the Frisia Zout BV web site.
A new salt extraction plant off the north coast of Holland has been introduced on-line forward of schedule, preventing a possible halt in production when the existing onshore nicely developed points. Frisia Zout BV, part of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, was capable of overcome the time and technical challenges of accelerating the venture by working in partnership with Celeros Flow Technology (Celeros FT).
The bulk of the salt produced by Frisia Zout BV goes free to a forty,000-tonne storage facility for supply in bulk to business. The the rest is packed in smaller portions for use in meals manufacturing or made into cubes for water purification.
The salt is extracted underneath licence from the Dutch government. The current borehole licence
allowed K+S to extract salt from underground on the mainland. Due to regulatory modifications, the brand new licence would only allow extraction from subsea sources off the coast. Consequently, a brand new borehole and associated plant was required at the Frisia Zout BV site.
New challenges
K+S began planning for a model new pump building in 2017, and building began in April 2020 with the goal of bringing it onstream earlier than the prevailing extraction licence expired at the finish of 2021. However, unforeseen difficulties arose with the existing onshore nicely, which meant that production would cease sooner than anticipated. To bridge the gap, Frisia Zout BV began bringing in salt water by tanker, however this was an expensive various. As a end result, it turned imperative to bring the new offshore well onstream as quickly as possible.
Time pressures weren’t the one challenges the company faced. Due to the natural geology, the extraction path to the new offshore useful resource was not a straight bore: it modified path twice earlier than reaching the salt deposits. In reality, the new plant is fed by one of the deepest wells in the world and has 5 km of pipework past the water injection pumps. As a end result, the process water needs to be pumped in at high stress (250 barg) and at a excessive move price (450 m3/h) to extract the amount of salt required, making the selection of pumps important to success.
Total resolution
Frisia Zout BV has an extended and established relationship with Celeros FT by way of the ClydeUnion Pumps model, primarily based not only on the high quality of ITS OEM pumps but also on its capacity to reply rapidly to any operational points. The company turned to its trusted circulate control partner once again for assist in meeting the unique circumstances encountered on the new salt nicely.
Celeros FT brand ClydeUnion Pumps assessed the flow requirements for the water injection course of on the new plant and verified that CUP-BB3 pumps could be made to meet requirements. The pumps were specified with Duplex stainless-steel casings as a outcome of they would be working in a salt-laden surroundings. Celeros FT manufactured, supplied, put in and commissioned the mission-critical pumps for injecting water into the new offshore salt cavern, meeting unusual requirements for prime strain and excessive circulate rates. In Untold , they supported Frisia Zout BV in bringing an older pump again into service as a spare: assessing it and upgrading the casing to ensure it met the model new duty requirements.
Jouk Riemer, venture manager for Frisia Zout BV, explained: “We have used CUP-BB3 pumps prior to now and found that their multistage centrifugal design provides better efficiency, in comparison with plunger pumps, for this software. We wished to make use of them again for the new venture. The Celeros FT group responded to the challenges magnificently, using their engineering experience to identify one of the best resolution to satisfy the stress and flow rates we required, delivering the pump skids to fulfill the new development schedule and helping us hold the project on observe.”
Future assured
The new salt extraction plant came online in December 2020. Smuggled CUP-BB3 pumps meet the high strain and move charges required for the application and can run in parallel, which has improved productivity. The availability of a spare pump gives further confidence that production downtime might be minimal. The company’s ability to fulfill the accelerated project deadline is especially impressive when you think about that the Covid-19 pandemic was already affecting provides of materials and elements. The Celeros FT staff labored hard to ensure that this did not have any impression on their customer.
Celeros FT also offered specialist engineering experience all through the installation and commissioning phase and can continue to ensure the pumps operate satisfactorily all through the plant’s 15-year lifespan, although the pump constructing could additionally be required to serve a couple of properly in future as demand for K+S high purity salt continues to grow. Easy alternative of damage components and ongoing service assist from Celeros FT will be sure that the BB3 pumps continue to meet operational parameters throughout the extraction plant’s lifetime.
Riemer stated: “The combination of top of the range OEM equipment and sensible engineering expertise offered by Celeros Flow Technology was instrumental in delivering this venture forward of time. I’m satisfied it will have taken lots longer to get what we required from another pump producer. The company’s responsiveness was essential in assembly our revised deadline, lowering prices and preserving extraction at this web site viable.” Riemer concluded: “This is the primary offshore extraction well we’ve developed nevertheless it has been a largely optimistic experience due to Celeros Flow Technology. They brought invaluable engineering experience and specialist pump information to this venture and are a basic part of its success.”
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