Rising to the salt extraction problem

A salt extraction operation needed to move quickly from an onshore to an offshore site provided by 5 km of pipework. The firm turned to flow management partner Celeros to help meet the unique circumstances encountered on the new salt nicely.
Overview of the 2 new water injection pumps for single and parallel operation, following set up and commissioning at the Frisia Zout BV website.
A new salt extraction plant off the north coast of Holland has been brought online ahead of schedule, preventing a potential halt in manufacturing when the present onshore well developed points. Frisia Zout BV, part of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, was able to overcome the time and technical challenges of accelerating the venture by working in partnership with Celeros Flow Technology (Celeros FT).
The bulk of the salt produced by Frisia Zout BV goes unfastened to a forty,000-tonne storage facility for delivery in bulk to business. The the rest is packed in smaller portions to be used in food manufacturing or made into cubes for water purification.
The salt is extracted beneath licence from the Dutch authorities. The existing borehole licence
allowed K+S to extract salt from underground on the mainland. Due to regulatory changes, the model new licence would solely allow extraction from subsea sources off the coast. Consequently, a new borehole and related plant was required on the Frisia Zout BV web site.
New challenges
K+S began planning for a brand new pump constructing in 2017, and construction began in April 2020 with the goal of bringing it onstream earlier than the present extraction licence expired on the finish of 2021. However, unforeseen difficulties arose with the present onshore properly, which meant that production would cease before anticipated. To bridge the hole, Frisia Zout BV began bringing in salt water by tanker, but this was an costly various. As a end result, it became imperative to bring the model new offshore properly onstream as soon as potential.
Time pressures weren’t the only challenges the company faced. Due to the pure geology, the extraction route to the new offshore useful resource was not a straight bore: it changed direction twice earlier than reaching the salt deposits. In truth, the model new plant is fed by one of many deepest wells in the world and has 5 km of pipework past the water injection pumps. As a result, the method water has to be pumped in at high strain (250 barg) and at a excessive flow rate (450 m3/h) to extract the amount of salt required, making the selection of pumps crucial to success.
Total resolution
Frisia Zout BV has an extended and established relationship with Celeros FT through the ClydeUnion Pumps model, primarily based not only on the high quality of ITS OEM pumps but in addition on its ability to respond shortly to any operational points. The firm turned to its trusted flow control partner once once more for help in meeting the unique circumstances encountered at the new salt well.
Celeros FT model ClydeUnion Pumps assessed the flow necessities for the water injection course of on the new plant and verified that CUP-BB3 pumps could be made to fulfill requirements. The pumps had been specified with Duplex stainless-steel casings as a end result of they’d be working in a salt-laden surroundings. Celeros FT manufactured, provided, put in and commissioned the mission-critical pumps for injecting water into the brand new offshore salt cavern, meeting unusual necessities for prime pressure and excessive circulate charges. In เกจวัดแรงดันดิจิตอล , they supported Frisia Zout BV in bringing an older pump again into service as a spare: assessing it and upgrading the casing to make sure it met the new duty requirements.
Jouk Riemer, project supervisor for Frisia Zout BV, explained: “We have used CUP-BB3 pumps in the past and located that their multistage centrifugal design offers higher efficiency, in comparability with plunger pumps, for this application. We wished to make use of them once more for the new challenge. The Celeros FT staff responded to the challenges magnificently, using their engineering expertise to determine the most effective solution to meet the stress and circulate charges we required, delivering the pump skids to satisfy the brand new development schedule and helping us hold the venture on track.”
Future assured
The new salt extraction plant came on-line in December 2020. Its CUP-BB3 pumps meet the excessive strain and move charges required for the applying and may run in parallel, which has improved productiveness. The availability of a spare pump provides additional confidence that manufacturing downtime will be minimal. The company’s capability to meet the accelerated project deadline is especially impressive when you assume about that the Covid-19 pandemic was already affecting supplies of supplies and elements. The Celeros FT team worked hard to ensure that this did not have any impression on their customer.
Celeros FT additionally offered specialist engineering experience all through the set up and commissioning section and can proceed to ensure the pumps operate satisfactorily all through the plant’s 15-year lifespan, although the pump building may be required to serve a couple of nicely in future as demand for K+S excessive purity salt continues to develop. Easy replacement of wear and tear parts and ongoing service assist from Celeros FT will be positive that the BB3 pumps proceed to meet operational parameters all through the extraction plant’s lifetime.
Riemer said: “The combination of prime quality OEM gear and practical engineering expertise supplied by Celeros Flow Technology was instrumental in delivering this project ahead of time. I’m convinced it will have taken lots longer to get what we required from another pump producer. The company’s responsiveness was essential in meeting our revised deadline, reducing costs and maintaining extraction at this site viable.” Riemer concluded: “This is the first offshore extraction nicely we now have developed however it has been a largely constructive experience thanks to Celeros Flow Technology. They introduced invaluable engineering expertise and specialist pump data to this challenge and are a elementary part of its success.”
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