Pumps, Valves and Seals Review: Part two

Hydrocarbon Engineering provides an overview of some of the most advanced pumps, valves and seals technologies available within the downstream oil, gas and petrochemicals processing industry.

Read part one here.

GE Oil & Gas

GE Oil & Gas has a long history of proven design and manufacturing excellence for the industry’s most demanding pumping applications, including high pressure services for petrochemicals and refineries such as hydrocarbon reactor charging, amine process requirements, boiler feed water delivery and recovery turbine applications. The company’s pumping technology is a standout in the industry, and the result of a long history of innovation. GE Oil & Gas is famous for its pumping market solutions as well as its centrifugal compressors and has four main multistage pump product lines: DDHF (BB5 barrel volute design), DDHM and DDM (BB5 barrel diffuser design) and MSN (BB3 axially split pump).

DDHM high pressure diffuser barrel multistage pump.

• The DDHF product is a BB5 multistage volute pump capable of handling very hazardous hydrocarbons at temperatures of up to 450°C and including streams containing dissolved H2S. The maximum reference design pressure of the DDHF is 670 bar. Its volute arrangement is recommended for use on fluids with potential solids in suspension such as cokes, waxes or catalysts. The most recent development executed and proven in the field is an improved design for hydrocracking process with slurry catalysts for very heavy feedstock.
• The DDHM is a BB5 multistage diffuser pump that employs the best design practices of GE’s BCL centrifugal compressor, unique in the sector and a standout amid a world of competitors, into this centrifugal pump. GE Oil & Gas’s DDHM pump family is designed for ultra high reliability in the most demanding upstream onshore and offshore applications such as water and CO₂ injection and is suitable for high power boiler feed water application.
• The DDM is a BB5 multistage diffuser pump perfect for light applications like clean hydrocarbon transfer and water disposal.
• The MSN is a BB3 axially split design suitable for amine process, boiler feed water, multi product pipelines and water injection. The max design pressure referenced by the MSN is 330 bar.

Overall GE affords continuous improvements in its engineered solutions for all the critical pumping applications in terms of performance, materials, coatings and systems integration.

Hoerbiger

Piston rod packings for reciprocating compressors have always been prone to gas leakage. Hoerbiger’s new XperSEAL rod sealing system uses pressurised oil to keep the gas in place, ensuring genuinely leak free sealing for the lifetime of the compressor. This radically new sealing system is fail safe, can be retrofitted easily to existing compressors, and uses no more oil than a conventional lubricated packing.

A conventional compressor packing case contains a stack of sealing elements surrounding the piston rod. With XperSEAL, a volume of pressurised oil replaces some of these elements. As the oil conforms exactly to the surface of the rod, gas cannot leak out as long as the oil is at a higher pressure than the gas.

With running times of up to 8000 hours, XperSEAL maintains zero leakage over the lifetime of the system. And unlike conventional packings, XperSEAL maintains a perfect seal even when the compressor is stationary.

XperSEAL.

Oil is supplied to the new packing by a dedicated hydraulic oil supply unit that monitors oil pressure, temperature and level. An integrated cooler eliminates the need for water cooling of the packing, so clogged cooling channels and gas contamination of the cooling circuit are things of the past. In the event of an unexpected oil pressure loss, the system switches automatically to a malfunction mode that replicates a standard vented or purged packing.

Though the basic idea is simple, XperSEAL’s success depends on Hoerbiger’s extensive knowledge of hydrodynamics. Since the oil barrier is kept in place by two elastomeric sealing rings, the designers faced the challenge of how to minimise oil leakage as every stroke of the piston rod carries a film of oil out of the packing case.

Using a principle that is well known in hydraulic cylinders but which had never before been applied to compressors seals, the company designed seals that pump the oil film back into the packing on alternate strokes. This has been so successful that XperSEAL uses no more oil than a conventional packing, and often less.

ITT Corporation

For more than 160 years, ITT has been the global leader in supplying the oil and gas industry with the highest quality products, including pumps, valves and aftermarket services. Driven by its Goulds Pumps and Bornemann brands, ITT has a history of success in the pipeline market, creating dependable, efficient solutions that are optimised to meet the industry’s challenging requirements.

ITT Bornemann: High Pressure HP Series

The HP pump range was developed to handle various crude oil viscosity levels in high pressure oil transfer applications. The HP pump features external, heavy duty radial bearings (drive and non-drive end) and timing gears on the non-drive end. All bearings and timing gears are oil bath lubricated, to avoid the need for external lube oil or cooling systems. The design keeps the pump unit as simple as possible, increasing the reliability of the entire system.

Advantages:

• Self priming capability.
• Smooth and pulsation free operation.
• Low starting torque and vibrations on pump casings/bearing housings even against high back pressures.
• Speed related capacity control.
• Handling fluids up to a gas content of 30% (GVF) and at variable (low/high) viscosities.
• High range of pressure variation.
• Pipeline evacuation is possible.
• High flow rates at high back pressures.
• Low suction pressure handling capability (low NPSH req.)

ITT Goulds Pumps: Goulds 3600 API 610

The Goulds 3600 API 610 (BB3) is an advanced design axially split multi stage process pump. Engineered features make it an extremely reliable, high performance pump that is well suited for pipeline applications.

Advantages:

• Axially split casing allows for extreme ease of maintenance.
• Dual volute design balances hydraulic radial thrust at each stage for extended seal/bearing life.
• Integral compact crossovers minimise flow losses and maximise efficiency.
• Heavy duty single row bolting prevents distortion and chance of interstage leakage.
• Precision impellers are individually balanced for smooth operation.
• Opposed impeller arrangement provides permanent axial hydraulic balance.
• Compliant with API-610/ISO 13790.

Read part three here.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/07072015/pumps-valves-and-seals-review-part-two-1052/