Experts are beginning to the weigh the impact of the ongoing coronavirus crisis against the need for expanded and refurbished infrastructure. As with most things these days, it seems more complicated the more you delve into the topic. Here are some interesting takes right now on the internet, the water treatment infrastructure and the economy. …
Unscheduled shutdowns, failure, maintenance and part replacement are key factors of operation, efficiency and economy for any plant or facility. About 20 to 40 percent of overall operating costs are due to maintenance actions, which can be a considerable amount of money. A key factor for improvements in maintenance policies, preventing failures, and avoiding unnecessary …
Predicting Remaining Useful Life of Pumps & Their Key Components Read More »
The circulating lubrication oil system is essential for cooling and lubricating all kinds of rotating machinery. In typical train steams or gas turbines, diesel engines, reduction or step-up gears, compressors, generators, pumps or expanders could be included. The oil system includes a number of components for which the pumps provide adequate flow and pressure—such as …
Optimizing Lube Oil Pumps for Rotating Machinery Read More »
The need for a leak-free pump became urgent in the modern age when industrial pumps began handling hazardous liquids. In the case of a toxic or flammable liquid, it is essential to protect both people and the environment from any leaks. Also, every leak means wasted product, which becomes significant when pumping expensive media, such …
Pumps termed as sealless, seal-free or leak-free (the terms are generally interchangeable) became a realistic option for operators in chemical processing applications more than 30 years ago. The first iteration had one main job: perform better at preventing the leakage of hazardous materials than sealed pumps through a sealless design.
Rising energy costs have created an atmosphere of uncertainty for many businesses. It’s easy to understand how a business can spend so much on energy costs when, in my experience, our engineers have routinely identified that boilerhouse managers tend to believe that they are operating at an efficiency level 15% higher than they actually are. …
t could be a chemical plant taking on a new formulation or a facility modernizing to meet updated environmental health and safety regulations. The conditions in which a pump is really running are often different than their intended design and operation.
Usually, a very hot product is considered a problem for a typical mechanical seal. This is particularly true for refinery applications, where product temperatures reaching 700 F (or even more) are not unusual. Cooling flush plans, special seal materials, etc., are used in such cases, clearly challenging and not inexpensive propositions. However, if a pump …
Is a Hot Mechanical Seal Temperature Always Bad? Read More »
Coatings to resist wear and corrosion are extensively used for pump parts requiring greater wear and corrosion resistance than can be obtained from an economic base material. When coating for corrosion resistance, it is important that the coating system is free of porosity.
During the commissioning and startup of an alumina processing plant in the Middle East, a significant recurring pump issue was causing delays to the commissioning of the facility. When de-energizing the equipment, the live steam condensate vertical can pumps experienced repeated failures of all installed units. These seizures occurred at both the design fluid temperature …
Engineering Analysis Resolves Startup Issues at Middle Eastern Plant Read More »