www.ketopumps.

com
Case Study: KETO Pumps impeller upgrade dramatically increases plant uptime
Industry:
Mining and Minerals
- Ball Mill and Knelson Concentrator
_________________________________
Location:
Mount Monger, Western Australia
_________________________________
Category:
Upgrade
_________________________________
Customer Benefts:
- Reduced pump energy costs
- Increased process uptime
_________________________________
Features:
- KETO KHEE Impeller
Using KETO slurry pump
equipment increased our
bottom line by nearly 10%.
For Silver Lake thats over 1
million dollars
Les Davis, Managing Director, Silver Lake
Resources Ltd
KETO Pumps is committed to delivering industry leading products and services
to the global mining market. Our technical service engineers are focused on
improving operational safety, reliability and effciency across a wide range of
capabilities to deliver superior quality solutions to our customers.
Situation
A gold mining operation in Western Australia with an exceptionally high silica and quartz
content in their ores were experiencing unscheduled plant shutdowns due to pump failure.
Challenge
Due to the severely erosive duty of silica and quartz sands (large, sharp and hard solids),
the installed pumps were operating at 50% of best efficiency point flow rate in an effort to
reduce internal velocities. The legacy installed metal impellers were typically lasting between
3 to 8 days of operation. To maintain production the client was running pumps to critical
failure.
KETO Pump engineers were consulted to assess the pump and seek a reliable and
economically justifiable solution. Inspection identified adverse damage to not only the
impeller, but to the rubber parts of the pump. Severe suction recirculation damage was
occurring in the conventional plain vane metal impeller design, resulting in short impeller life.
For more information please contact KETO Pumps:
Visit us online www.ketopumps.com
email: info@ketopumps.com | tel: +61 08 6310 4100
296 Victoria Road, Malaga, WA 6090, Australia
We reserve the right to make technical changes or modify the contents of this document without prior notice. The document and its text, images, diagrams, data and information
it contains must not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of KETO Pumps.
Copyright 2013. All rights reserved
Solution
A KETO KHEE severe duty high efficiency impeller was installed
due to its heavy duty design, better suited to the severe erosive duty
than the previous standard legacy impeller. The damage caused
by the suction recirculation was substantially reduced. The KETO
installed impeller lasted over 21 days, up to 6 times more than the
legacy impeller.
The impeller upgrade allowed the maintenance shut down periods
to be extended to a consistent 20 days without having to run pumps
to failure. Improved reliability not only reduced maintenance and
labour costs but increased plant production by over 600 hours per
annum.
Financial Illustration
Savings due to increased mean time between overhauls (MTBO)
- Reduced impeller/wet end change outs from122 p.a. to 18 p.a.
resulting in labour savings of AUD$185,000 p.a. per pump.
Annual energy cost savings
- The hydraulic design of the KETO wet end absorbs 42kW for this
duty versus the legacy design at 47kW.
- 0.15c/kWhr @ 7,500 hrs per year results in AUD$47,250
power to run the KETO impeller versus AUD$52,875 to run the
old design wet end. A saving of AUD$10,125 per pump per
annum.
- Pump out vanes worn particularly at
OD. Seal chamber pressure increasing
causing additional expeller and gland
wear.
- KETO Pumps impeller thread side shroud
in as new condition. Seal chamber
pressure still being reduced due to action
of pump out vanes remaining efficient.
Mill discharge - wear comparison after 8 days
KETO Pumps Legacy Brand
- Conventional impeller vanes at eye
destroyed, impeller OD severely eroded.
- KETO impeller vanes at eye in as new
condition, impeller OD like new.
- Conventional impeller vanes at eye
destroyed, impeller OD severely eroded.
- Impeller discharge vanes severely eroded,
ID of vanes worn to approx 250mm.
- Inlet vane eroded causing NPSHR to
increase, pump to cavitate and lose
ability to pump.
- Severe erosion to impeller outlet width
and front and rear shrouds.
- After 8 days conventional impeller not
pumping, resulting in mill shutdown.
- KETO impeller vanes at eye in as new
condition, impeller OD like new.
- KETO impeller discharge vanes in near
new condition, ID of vanes remains less
than 100mm.
- Inlet vanes still in new condition
maintaining original suction properties.
- Virtually no erosion to impeller outlet
width, front and rear shrouds.
- After 8 days KETO impeller still pumping
like new.
- Mill now runs for 20 days between
shutdowns increasing production.
Case Study Ref: KPCS_002