New Product Sizes for the Acid Industry
Weir Lewis continues to respond to the needs of the fertilizer acid industry with the addition of new pump sizes.
Four new pump sizes have been added to its product lines - the 2CLS and 1¼VSH vertical pumps for molten sulphur service, 18H vertical pump for sulphuric acid service, and 36H horizontal axial flow pump for phosphoric acid service.
The 2CLS and 1¼VSH sizes complement the vertical molten sulphur pumps for handling "dirty" sulphur and relatively "pure" sulphur, respectively, in the low flow range. The 2CLS is a cantilever shaft pump with no submerged bearings whereas the 1¼ VSH pump has submerged shaft bearings that permit much longer "J" lengths.
The 1¼ VSH pump responds to the need for low flow, high-head requirements specified for advanced desulphurization technologies employed within refineries.
On the sulphuric acid pump side, the size 18H pump has been added to provide higher tower recirculation flows as required in new world class sulphuric acid plants. This pump, at 980 RPM operating speed, provides operation in the region of 1,200 cum/hr(5,280 gpm) and 40 mlc(131 ft) to 2,800 cum/hr(12,320 gpm) and 20mlc(66 ft). The peak efficiency for the pump is 86%. The photograph in Figure 1 shows the 18H pump undergoing an impeller performance test. The maximum power required at run-out with the maximum impeller trim is 360 kW (482HP), based on 1.8 SG.
The 36LH pump size has been added to provide flow/head performance in the region of 8,000 cum/hr (35,200 gpm) and 8.0 mlc (26.2 ft) to 13,000 cum/hr (57,200 gpm) and 2.5 mlc (8.2 ft). The performance can be further altered according to the user’s requirements by adjusting the propeller angle and operating speed. The pump elbow and the casing are cast. We have also offered vertical versions of this pump size and other existing size pumps in cast as well as fabricated construction. According to the absorbed power requirements, the pump may be driven through v-belts and pulleys or through a gear reducer arrangement. Currently, one US phosphoric acid producer uses the size 36LH pump to handle phos acid slurry in a flash-cooler application.
Source: The Weir Group PLC
