PUMPS AND PIPELINES
Leak detection
Atmos International has been producing leak detection systems for pipelines for over 24 years,
supporting several sectors.
While it serves the oil, gas, chemical, aviation and mining sectors, Dr Jun Zhang, Atmos’ CEO,
says providing leak detection to the latter can be complex.
“The geography, with extreme elevation changes, provides challenges due to regular slack
events with severe drops in pressure,” she told IM. “The complex hydraulic changes and nature of
mining pipelines require leak detection systems to be carefully implemented. This includes
interpreting data from pump signals and the pressure profiles to identify and avoid false alarms.”
Gaining better leak location accuracy requires additional pressure sensors, according to Dr
Zhang.
“For example, having only two pressure sensors along a 150 km pipeline with multiple
elevations means less accuracy,” she said. “Adoption of additional hardware provides the
operators with a comprehensive solution.
“From Atmos’ experience, many slurry pipelines have been designed from the ‘same template’
using the same equipment, station set-ups and distances and similar operations philosophy.”
Atmos’ leak detection solutions are able to manage abnormal pressure drops caused by valve
stations across pipelines, according to Dr Zhang. “Where there are friction elements that can
reduce pressure, by using the pattern of pressure response and the signal from the friction
element, false alarms can be avoided.”
One of the algorithms used by Atmos Pipe and Wave calculates the friction factor of the
pipeline. “This value can be a useful indicator for the client, as more friction means more operating
cost,” Dr Zhang said. “The algorithms from Atmos Wave can help reveal different events that may
be introducing unwanted frequencies on the pipeline operations. These frequencies could lead to
even greater issues if no action is taken.”
The Atmos Pipe product calculates a corrected flow imbalance and runs a statistical analysis on
it. If flow and pressure change, then Atmos Pipe can alarm and notify the operator to the leak.
“Leaks are hydraulic events coming from inside the boundaries of the pipeline instead of
outside, as is the case of transients (operational changes such as pump operations),” Dr Zhang
said. “With Atmos Wave (the negative pressure wave system), the correlation seen in pressure
changes (facilitated by the high frequency data collection units – AWAS) enables the operator to
differentiate between normal operating conditions and a leak,” she said.
“It can locate leaks within tens of meters.”
Atmos Wave Flow, meanwhile, uses a dynamic model based on flow and pressure and uses
pattern recognition to identify the unique changes in flow and pressure caused by a leak.
“This pattern recognition allows for faster leak detection in minutes rather than hours,” Dr
Zhang said.
proving the MDX is the most reliable pump on
the market,” GIW said.
Hernan Palavecino, South America Region
Manager for GIW, said: “GIW recognises the
importance of the Quellaveco mine to the region.
“The award is a result of GIW’s drive for
continuous improvements in slurry technologies.
We are committed to offering high-quality service
while building a long-term partnership with
Quellaveco.”
Over the border in Chile, Germany’s Pleuger
Industries has recently installed six robust high-
performance submersible pumps at the
Collahuasi copper mine.
Pleuger’s 10 in pumps enter the Collahuasi
flowsheet during the flotation process where
they help dewater the copper sludge.
The pumps come with a circa-300 m 3 /h flow
rate and are powered by Pleuger ® 2-Pole
submersible-motors.
Process pumps like the ones used at
Collahuasi are placed under extreme operating
74 International Mining | JUNE 2019
conditions, according to Pleuger: “Copper…
quickly oxidises the materials from which pumps
are usually made. In order to counteract this
process, the engineers at Pleuger Industries rely
on a corrosion protection concept specially
adapted to the customer when designing the
pumps.”
This is a mechanical
maintenance-free
protection concept based
on forced increased
resistance in the circuit,
Pleuger told IM.
The industrial mineral producer previously
employed two independent centrifugal pumps for
filling the filter press and dewatering the sludge.
This, given the size of the filter plates, appeared
to initially be the best option.
The company decided to opt for a centrifugal
pump with a high initial flow rate of 220 m 3 /h,
which pumped sludge at a pressure of up to 3
bar, ABEL explained. “Once the filling phase of
the filter press was accomplished, a piston-
diaphragm pump was used to fulfil the most
demanding process of pressurising at an initial
theoretic feed rate of 25 m 3 /h.”
However, this system showed high operating
costs due to frequent spare parts replacement
and high energy draw.
“As a solution, ABEL proposed installing only
one single piston-diaphragm pump of the HM
series, which was best-suited for the high
filtering pressure required for the process,” the
company said.
During the first phase of the filtration cycle,
the pump delivers an initial flow rate of up to 50
m 3 /h, but, as the filter chambers fill, solids
collect against the filter cloth and counter
pressure begins to build.
“As this happens, the pump will adapt and
automatically reduce its flow rate to
compensate,” ABEL said.
Flow regulation is carried out by a reference
signal from the pressure transmitter to the VFD,
according to Abel. During the final filtration
phase, the pump operates at high pressure while
delivering a low flow rate to the filter press to
maintain filtration under high pressure.
“The lower speed is more efficient, and
provides energy-saving, while pumps using less
effective technologies risk incurring high wear
and possible damage,” ABEL pointed out.
The ABEL HM pump provided a solution with
these improvements, according to the company:
n Reduction of maintenance costs;
n Reduction of power consumption;
n Reduction of the cycle time by 25%, and;
n Drier filter cake. IM
Automatic
adaptations
ABEL Pumps recently
fulfilled a brief from a
potassium feldspar and
silica sand producer looking to improve
performance in its filtration process and continue
its effort to lower its environmental impact.
For RAG’s German coal mine closure project,
ANDRITZ will manufacture and deliver a total of
three double-suction submersible motor pumps
based on the patented HDM technology