CASE STUDY: J

 OHN CRANE DYNAMIC LIFT WITH UP-STREAM

PUMPING (USP) SEAL UPGRADE

John Crane Dynamic Lift USP Seal

Upgrade Improves MTBR by 10 Years

BAC KG R O UND
Industry: Mining
Site: Mine Raw Material
Processing Plant
Location: Southeastern United States
End Product: Kaolin used in pulp and
paper, deinking, paints and coatings,
adhesives, caulks and sealants John Crane’s Dynamic Lift USP fluid
seal technology was chosen by the
mine to improve seal MTBR

CU S TO ME R N E E D HI G HLI G HT S
• In 2009, a processing plant serving a kaolin mineral mine located in • Ten years ago, a southeastern kaolin
the Southeastern United States experienced downtime related to an mine experienced frequent MTBR
unreliable pumping process. on a pump feeding its magnetic
• When the magnetic process to remove ferrous metal particulate from extraction process
the kaolin mixture was interrupted, production came to a standstill, • The frequent three- to six-week
cutting into profits MTBR cut into production and the
• A pump with braided packing could not stand up to the fluid flow volume bottom line

• The process plant wanted to move quickly to improve the pump and • The local John Crane Distributor
seal’s costly three- to six-week mean time between repair (MTBR) determined that vibration and
track record intermittent water flow damaged
the sealing ability of the pump
• The mine’s parent company, one of the world’s leading mineral
producers, looked to its local distributor and John Crane for a solution • The distributor worked with John
to the costly maintenance pump application Crane to upgrade the seal with an
innovative face configuration to add to
the mechanical seal faces that would

MTBR 3-6 10 YEARS

WEEKS

BEFORE JOHN CRANE

AND COUNTING MTBR
AFTER JOHN CRANE
provide the reliability solution
• After upgrading to John Crane’s
MTBR Dynamic Lift USP Seal, the mine has
3-6 weeks had no further seal problems, an
10 years and counting MTBR of 10 years and counting

johncrane.com
CASE STUDY: J
 OHN CRANE DYNAMIC LIFT WITH UP-STREAM
PUMPING (USP) SEAL UPGRADE

APPL I CAT I ON RE S ULT S

• The local John Crane Distributor identified the faulty standard seal and
packing that were damaged due to vibration and intermittent pump • Since the February 2009 installation,
volume flow caused by continuous periodic cavitation plant technicians have yet to change
the John Crane 5620 USP seal
• MTBR for the seal was three to six weeks, each event impeding the
process flow throughput volume, ultimately reducing end product • The John Crane
flow and output 5620 USP seal has
worked flawlessly
MTBR
IMPROVEMENT
• The distributor, who also supplied seals for the original project, since installation,
requested input from John Crane after attending a training session 24/7, 365 days per 10 YEARS
that reviewed the USP’s non-contact technology year, which is a
• The mine chose a unique and innovative face design to improve 10-year MTBR
the MTBR—Dynamic Lift with Up-stream Pumping available only improvement over the
from John Crane previous seal and
• The non-contacting technology would be less affected by pump flow braided packing OVER
interruptions and vibration • The mine no longer 856K
GALLONS
operates a totalizer, SAVED
cutting annual water
S O LUT I ON consumption from
• The kaolin mine replaced the existing seal and braided packing 856,800 gallons to
with John Crane’s series 5620 series standard double seal, fitted with just 547 gallons
inboard & outboard pumper mating rings, creating the unique design • The mining engineer leading the
geometry of the high-pressure USP seal USP upgrade said, “He had never
• The flush line was filtered to > 5 microns with an inline filter, seen anything like it,” and has
deadheaded to seal and the remaining inlet/outlet ports were plugged implemented similar upgrades at
another processing plant site with
• The low-volume, high-pressure USP seal works by propelling
similar MTBR results
a small amount of buffer liquid along the path normally sealed by a
mechanical seal face and into the higher-pressure product side • Because of the success of the kaolin
mine upgrade, the parent company
• The 5620 USP seal design greatly reduces seal and equipment wear,
is using John Crane USP seals at
utilizing a face spiral groove pattern to direct barrier fluid toward the
other processing operations
outside diameter, setting up a sealed gap and eliminating physical
contact of the faces during operation
• The John Crane 5620 USP seal gave the mill the solution to withstand
the intermittent flow and vibration

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