Starting of heavy oil pumps
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Hello everyone. The pump in our facility handles heavy oil that contains catalyst particles. The pump body is equipped with heating, but every time we try to start the pump, we have to use steam pipes to heat the pump casing for a long time before it’s possible to rotate the pump. Starting the pump is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Do you have any good suggestions?
Heavy oil pumps all require preheating; hot fluid from the pump outlet is returned to the inlet in a small flow rate through the outlet of the standby pump, thereby keeping the pump body of the standby pump at a high temperature and in a flowing state, so as to ensure it is in good standby condition.
If the pump body is insulated, it shouldn’t be too difficult to turn it manually; considering insulating the pump body might be a good option to try
The pump outlet pressure is 85 kilograms, while the inlet pressure is 6 kilograms. The hot fluid from the operating pump’s outlet is returned to the inlet in small quantities through the standby pump’s outlet; there is a lot of concern regarding pressure crossover. The pump structure is quite complex, making it difficult to install heating elements
Applying insulation paste to the pump body is easy. The heavy oil pump has no pre-heating element nor insulation; it will definitely solidify after being shut down, making it difficult to rotate the pump shaft, let alone start the pump.
I suggest to your supervisor that a pre-heating line and insulation must be added. Otherwise, there will be many management issues.
High pressure is not a problem; if there is concern about excessive flow, a flow-limiting orifice plate can be added to the preheating line. I have operated multi-stage pumps with an outlet pressure of 6.3 MPa and an inlet pressure of 50 kPa, using reduced-pressure residue at 80 degrees Celsius as the medium; however, the preheating and purging procedures must be properly designed.
1. It is necessary to know the temperature of the pump’s inlet and outlet pipelines, as well as the temperature when the pump body is equipped with heating; it is also important to determine the difference between these two temperatures. 2. If the pump body is equipped with heating, it still depends on how effective the insulation is No insulation means no heat tracing. 3. What are the dynamic viscosities of 40 or 100 for heavy oil? 4. If this pump is a mixing pump, is it just as difficult to turn it by hand in the absence of a catalyst? The heavy oil with catalyst added can be not transported before shutting down the pump. 5. Is there a cleaning procedure for the pump inlet? It can be cleaned after the pump is stopped.