Pumps in Petroleum Industry

A wide variety of pumps is used in petroleum industry to pump petroleum and water. The use of the pumps in the field can be categorized under the following six places.

1. Drilling
2. Production
3. Transportation
4. Refining
5. Off shore-rig
6. Portable pumps

In general, most of the petroleum industry follows American Voluntary Standards (AVS) type of pumps.

Pumps in Drilling field

Pump: Slush pump or Mud pump

Type:

1. Direct acting steam driver;

2. Horizontal duplex steam driver;

3. Triplex power pump

Pressure obtained: 200 bar at moderate flow rate

Discharge range: 2250 to 4500 LPM

Slush or Mud handled by slush pump: 1 to 1.5 kg per litre

Advantages of Slush or Mud pump Drilling:

They are generally pot type to permit easy inspection and maintenance of liquid.

Pumps in Production field

Three types of mechanical pumping systems are used to lift oil from deep wells and deliver it to the surface of the earth.

1. Sucker rod pumps
2. Hydraulic pumping
3. Submersible pumps

Sucker rod pumps

American Petroleum Institute classifies sucker rod pumps in eight different categories

1. Rod, stationery, heavy wall barrel, top anchor
2. Rod stationery, thin wall barrel, top anchor
3. Rod stationery, Heavy wall barrel, bottom anchor
4. Rod stationery, thin wall barrel, bottom anchor
5. Rod travelling, heavy wall barrel, bottom anchor
6. Rod travelling, thin wall barrel, bottom anchor
7. Tubing, heavy wall barrel
8. Tubing heavy wall barrel, soft packed plunger

Speed of Sucker rod pumps

6 to 24 strokes per minute with the stroke varies from 0.5 to 4.25 meters.

Capacity of Sucker rod pumps

25 to 1220 barrels (bbl) per day

Hydraulic pumping

Pump: Reciprocating triplex pump

Speed: 5 to 100 strokes per minute at strokes from 0.3 m to 10 m

Capacity: 72 to 4500 bbl per day at 1500 m and 900 m depth respectively.

The overall efficiency of a hydraulic pumping system is high compared with sucker rods.

Submersible pumps

Capacity: 20 to over 15000 bbl per day

Power consumption: 0.5 KWh per bbl per 300 m of lift

Pump efficiency: Average over 60 %

Pumps in Transportation

The total length of pipe lines transporting petroleum all over the world is made of three classes of lines.

1. Crude oil
2. Gathering
3. Product pipe lines

Pumps used in Transportation are:

1. Horizontal multi stage split case volute type pumps
2. Single stage volute type pumps
3. Horizontal and vertical multi-cylinder reciprocating pumps (used in main gathering lines)
4. Centrifugal pump
5. Vertical turbine pumps
6. Combined turbine propeller pumps

Pumps in Refining

For refining purpose the following pumps are used:

1. Refinery pumps
2. Diffusery pumps (two stage)
3. Process type pumps
4. Barrel type pumps
   1. Horizontal type
   2. Vertical type
5. Rotary pumps

Pumps in Off Shore Rigs

For Off shore Rigs purpose the following pumps are used:

1. Fire pumps
2. Submersible pumps

Portable pumps

It is used to removal of basic sludge and water from the tank bottoms to slush pits and cleaning of these pits.

Pumps used are:

1. Reciprocating pumps
   1. Plunger type
   2. Diaphragm type
2. Self priming centrifugal pumps

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Pumps in Chemical Industry

In general, for chemical process application a large number of vertically split casing chemical pumps are used. Materials used in construction of major parts of these pumps include bronze, iron, carbon or alloy steels, glass, plastic, graphite, hard rubber, stone ware, stainless steel and a number of other corrosion and erosion resistant metals and synthetics. The entire aim in the design of these pumps is to have complete corrosion and erosion resistance. When handling acids, alkalies and other liquids; easy installation, operation and maintenance.

The typical liquids handled by the chemical pumps include acids, bases, salts, acetates, hydrocarbons, chlorides, starches, oils etc., and for chemical pumps grease lubrication is standard for liquid temperature up to 200 degree Celsius, above this oil is used.

In modern chemical and process plants for medium and higher pressure hydraulic service, horizontal split casing, multi stage volute pumps are very much popular in the above industries. Such pumps are available in pressure range of 20 to 70 bar for capacities up to 3000 LPM. Where very much higher pressure required barrel types of pumps are often used. Where only limited Net Positive Suction Head is available, vertical single or multi stage pumps are often employed for chemical handling. Alkali pumps and Dairy pumps are used in chemical industry.

S. No	Service	Materials handled	Types of pump
1.	Fresh liquor pump	Soda liquor	Single sucker closed impeller chemical pump
2.	Blow pit pumps	7 stock (1 to 3%)	Open impeller, single sucker heavy duty chemical pump
3.	Transfer pumps	Stock (0.5 to 3%)	Single sucker, open impeller
4.	White water pumps	Stock (0.1 to 0.5%)	Single sucker, open impeller
5.	Washer to evaporatorWeak black liquorChemical pump and double sucker pump6.	Evaporator to furnace	Heavy black liquor	Chemical pump
7.	Condenser pumps	Hot water	Double sucker
8.	Dissolving tank to green liquor storage	Green liquor	Chemical pump and Double sucker pump
9.	Salt cake solar pump	Sodium sulfate solution	End sucker, open impeller chemical pump
10.	Milk of lime pump	Milk of lime	End sucker, open impeller chemical pump

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Pumps used in paper industry

The paper process is usually carried out in two stages:

1. Pulp manufacture
2. Paper manufacture

Pumps used in pulp mill

It is the mill where pulp necessary for paper manufacture is prepared from raw material such as wood, bamboo’s and other similar articles. In other words the finishing point for pulp mill is the starting point for the paper mill.

The pulp produced is termed as mechanical pulp or chemical pulp depending upon the method used to convert the raw pulp. In India, most of the other paper factories uses chemical pulp.

In general, in paper industry to handle the paper stock, the pump is specially designed i.e paper stock pumps.

Service	Materials handled	Pump types
Blow pit pump	1 to 4% stock	Centrifugal pump
Transfer pump	0.5 to 2% stock	Centrifugal pump
White water pump	0.1 to 0.5% stock	Centrifugal pump

Pumps used in paper mill

The pulp from the pulp mill is fed into the paper mill to manufacture the paper for that following pumps are used:

Service	Materials handled	Pump types
Beater pump	4.6% stock	Single, suction, centrifugal, open impeller
Jordan pump	4.1% stock	Single, suction, centrifugal, open impeller
Mix or fan pump	White water	Double suction or End suction, open impeller
Shower pump	Clear water	Double suction or End suction open impeller

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Pumps used in Sewage and Drainage Systems

Sewage Handling

1. Centrifugal pump (non-clogging)
2. Mixed flow pump (for larger volumes)
3. Axial flow pump (for larger volumes)

Drainage system

1. Mixed flow pump (for larger volumes)
2. Axial flow pump (for large volumes)

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