Heavy oil catalytic slurry pump
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The heavy oil catalytic slurry pump in our plant is a TPY200—140 model slurry pump manufactured by Kol Pump Co., with one unit in operation and another as a backup. Pump A operates normally, achieving the required pressure and flow rates, while Pump B fails to meet the required flow rate – it only produces about half of the flow rate of Pump A. Initially, we suspected that the long operating time and resulting wear were the cause of this issue. After disassembling the pump for maintenance, the same problems persisted during testing, and the cause could not be identified. We would appreciate it if experts could help analyze the reason.
Is the gap at the mouth ring large? It is necessary to carefully measure both the radial and axial gaps; sometimes the measurement of the axial gap is overlooked, and that’s where problems often arise.
Recheck the clearances of various parts of the pump, the diameter of the impeller, and the speed and direction of rotation of the motor. If there are no issues, check whether excessive resistance in the process piping is causing the problem.
Check whether the inlet and outlet valves of pump B are fully open. If both pumps are of the same model and manufactured by the same manufacturer, then there should be no problem with the pumps; the main issues are likely to lie in the pipelines and external components of the pumps. For example, on the first floor, if the gap around the sealing ring is too large, there will be backflow, but its impact on flow rate won’t be that significant – it will be reduced by half； Therefore, it is often external issues with the pump that cause the flow rate to be halved
Could it be a problem with the motor’s speed?
Check the motor orientation to verify if it is running in reverse, and check whether the inlet filter is clogged
This TPY is a pump type modeled after the ZPY slurry pump
It might be a pipeline design issue.
Has pump B for slurry been on standby for a long time? Scaling and blockage in the inlet pipeline of the slurry pump can also cause a decrease in the pump’s flow rate.
Was everything normal during the factory acceptance test, at the beginning of operation (water-cooling operation), and when the slurry circulation system was established? In short, did everything proceed normally?