Challenging applications for Centrifugal pump and Mechanical Seals
Application Major cause of concern - Common challenges
Abrasive / corrosive Slurry application
Wastewater, Paper stock, mining, Ash, sand gravel etc.
High temperature application (Over 200 C)
Heat transfer fluid, Materials such as asphalt, molasses, Sulfar,
chocolate, tar wax either solid at ambient temperatures or so
viscous that it is impractical to try to pump them without
heating
Boiler feed or hot water application
used to pump feedwater into a steam boiler.
Caustic, amines and similar Product tends to Crystalize,
Caustic adjust pH levels, etching and surface finishing.
Amine is used mainly in water purification, medication and
development of crop protection chemicals.
Light hydrocarbon / Volatile Organic Compounds
Oil and Gas products
Cryogenic application
Settling / non-settling Solid handling capability
Adequate service life against abrasion and erosion effect
Adequate service life against corrosion effects
Settling / clogging the pump or lines and reduce wear
Protect seal faces and other hardware against abrasion wear
Protect clogging or hang up of spring
Healthy lubrication to seal faces
Dimensional changes due to thermal expansion
Change in mechanical properties and corrosiveness at elevated
temperature
Protect from thermal shock and Thermal Stratification
Pump to motor shaft gets misaligned due to dissimilar thermal growth
High bearing box temperature due to conduction
Axial float and thereby final seal compression would change due to
thermal expansion
Seal failure during startup due to products solidify at seal faces
Elastomer / Packing to handle intense temperature
Seal hang up due to oxidation or cocking at seal atmospheric side
Reduced local pressure, Bubble formation and transient cavitation
Protect from thermal shock and Thermal Stratification
Pump to motor shaft gets misaligned due to dissimilar thermal growth
High temperature water above 60 C is difficult to seal as it’s lubricity
greatly reduced with increase in temperature
Friction generated between the seal faces, seal parts and feed
water may cause buildup of unwanted electric energy.
High pressure may cause O ring to extrude
Suitable MOC against corrosion resistance
Other option
Product leak tends to crystalize on atmospheric side may hang up
pusher seal
Fluro elastomer is not suitable
Caustic attack the free silica available in Silicon carbide face
Product tends to vaporize, lead to cavitation and suction starvation,
Adequate NPSH margin
Start up vent
Achieve Fugitive emission compliance
Primary seal dry running
Product tends to vaporize at atmospheric temperature pose risk of
cavitation and loss of pumping
Metals become increasingly brittle as the temperature is
reduced
Not able to achieve the design suction temperature
Achieve Fugitive emission compliance
Primary seal dry running
Suitable packing at sub-zero temperature
Viscosity of many buffer fluids becomes too high at the seal
chamber operating temperatures.
Known solution
Larger internal clearance and passage, Recessed impeller with few but thicker vanes
Low speed operation and Higher internal passage to reduce velocity and resultant wear
Casing with lined of hard metals, elastomers or ceramics, suitable wear allowance. Hard metals and ceramics
combat erosion due to their high hardness values. Elastomers combat erosion by absorbing the energy of an
impacting particle due to their resilience and tear resistance.
Optimize the pump flow rate considering based on slurry composition and process requirement
Mechanical Seal
Tapered Seal chamber, use of both hard faces like SiC Vs SiC,
Isolate springs from the process, Non-pusher API 682 type B seal
Plan 32 with throat bush, use of duel pressurize seal
Adequate clearance and material to be selected.
Proper material to be selected, shrink fir / press fit component to be selected with extra precaution
Heating rate in the range of 40-50 C per hour can avoid thermal shock.
Anticipated thermal growth at operating temperature to be taken in account while cold alignment, Hot
alignment to be verified
Bearing box with cooling coil
Mechanical Seal
Seal to be designed to accommodate high axial displacement.
If it is excessive, Seal compression to be designed considering operating temperature
Jacketed seal housing with steam supply and steam tracing of pump
FFKM (perfluoro elastomer) is the best choice
Plan 62 or Tandem seal or API 682 type C seal, Non-pusher / Metal bellow seal
Adequate suction pressure to be checked, MOC should have adequate cavitation resistance to minimize the
effect of transient cavitation
Heating rate in the range of 40-50 C per hour can avoid thermal shock.
Anticipated thermal growth at operating temperature to be taken in account while cold alignment, Hot
alignment to be verified
Mechanical Seal
Plan 21 or plan 23 with throat bush and pumping ring to be used. Plan 32 is also an option.
Way face and other similar technology can reduce the friction and good solution in ultralow conductive feed
water applications
Suitable hardness elastomer with additional back up ring can solve the problem
Alloy 20, Titanium or Nickle based alloy, Non-metallic pump made up of PVDF or similar material
Sealless pump
Mechanical Seal
Quenching plan 62 helps wash and sweep seal atmospheric side, Duel unpressurized or pressurize seal is
also an option.
EPT or EPR is suitable techno-commercial option. Amine-resistance perfluoro elastomer
Self-sintered Silicon carbide is the solution
Maintain suction pressure as high as possible, Maintain suction temperature as low as possible
Pump should be sufficiently vented to remove all the vapor, while start up
Mechanical Seal
Sealing with containment seal or duel pressurize seal with monitoring system and interlock
Suitable Plan 11 or plan 13
Entire system should be properly insulated to eliminate heat exchange with atmosphere
Suitable metallic components need to be selected
If suction temperature is higher than the rated condition, please see the vapor pressure curve. Maintain
adequate suction pressure to ensure product remains in liquid form all the time.
Mechanical Seal
Sealing with containment seal or duel pressurize seal with monitoring system and interlock
Suitably designed Plan 11 or plan 13
Silicon rubber is the best choice in terms of price and installation. Other options are flexible graphite and
suitable FFKM compound. Flexible graphite can handle lowest temperature.
Synthetic oil or suitable buffer fluid need to be selected which has flowability at operating temperature
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