IFLOW - “WHEN” AND “WHY” By: Muhammad Imaran- Mechanical Rotating Engineer ~ LUKOIL Overseas Services 8.V Dubai ultimate goal of using a Centrifugal Pumps is to maintain a certain flow rate (in3/h) in the syste ‘ata certain time. Flow rate demands can be intermittent or continuous, fixed or variable within a range from zero {no flow) to a certain maximum. Centrifugal pumps are flexible to meet the process demand variations; however itis inherent design feature of the centrifugal pumps that they are limited for a certain minimum flow rate called “minimum continuous flow = MCF” below which it is not recommended to operate the pump in a-continuous manner. C= Pumps are the most widely used Rotating Equipment In the process plants. The Unlike positive displacement pumps, centrifugal pumps behave differently when the system resistance (line backpressure) changes. An increase in the system resistance kills the pump differential head and the pump is able to maintain a lower flow rate in the system. Similarly, a decrease in the system resistance enables the pump to maintain a higher flaw rate, This characteristic of centrifugal pumps is widaly used in a controlled manner to achieve flew regulation in order te meot the process demand variations ‘There are possibilities when the system resistance may change in an uncontrolled fashion, for example, cchocking of heat exchanger tubes in the downstream or a sudden closure of the discharge valve etc. This may cause that pump operating point to move further left beyond the MCF point and may even push the pump into shut-off condition resulting in a catastrophic pump failure: Pump selection becomes challenging when the process flow demand falls below the MCF capability of the available centrifugal pumps. In such cases, a larger centrifugal pump is selected with a particular system design such that the process demand is fulfilled without having to operate the pump below the MCF point. Various methods are used to prevent the pump operation below the MCF point and to avoid the ‘operation at shut-off condition. Commonly used methods include "Minimurn continuous flow control valve", “Automatic reciraulation valve" or using a “Minimum continuous flow by-pass line’, the last one being the simplest method used for the smaller size pumps. This paper deseribes how centrifugal pump protection is achieved by using MCF by-pass line and how ‘the pump sizing is done for this particular case. MCF BY-PASS LINE - HOW IT WORKS: Figure ‘.a shows schematic for a simple pumping system. In case of any increase in the systern resistance, the pump operating point (red dot) moves upwards along the Q-H curve. If the system resistance keeps on increasing, the pump operating point keeps riding up the curve until it reaches the MCF point (black dot). If the system resistance keeps on increasing further, the operating point moves beyond the MCF point and may finaly reach the shut off point if the pump discharge is fully blocked. 11Panun Game caiman) Operating region below minimum continuous flow Figure 1-2: Typical Pumping System without MCF Protection Figure L-b shows a typical pumping system with KICF by-pass line, The by-pass line consists of a suitably sized orifice plate with an appropriate line size leading back to the suction system. The MCF by-pas line provides an additional flow path in the pump discharge system which remains continuously open thus ‘ensures that certain minimum flow is always passed through the pump. Im this case, even if the pump discharge is fully blocked, the system resistance does not increase beyond the MCF point of the purnp and hence the operating point dees not fall below the MCF region. 2IPageFigure 1-a: Typical Pumping system with MCF By-Pass Line PUMP SIZING FOR MCF BY-PASS SYSTEM: ‘There are various applications where MCF by-pass line is the most suitable method for the centrifugal pump protection. There are cases when the rated flaw rate is too small to be covered by the available centrifugal pumps, so a bigger capacity pump is selected and operated at a larger flow with continuous spill back for the exeoss flow. In another case, the pump contrals are simplified by adopting the minimum continuous flow line. A good example is application of Jockey Pumps in the Fire Water Pump ‘system when pump is continuously operated without using a pressure sensing line. In all these cases, alPagethe pump sizing is done based on “Rated Flow + Minimum Continuous Flow” rather than the "Rated Flow’. Following details are provided to explain how and why this pump sizing practice works to achieve the desired p ump performance. Example: Cold Condensate Pumps - Steam Generation and Distribution System Following figure shows section of data sheet with operating conditions for a centrifugal pump in the steam generation and distribution system of a Gas Treatment Plant, CAPACITY, NORMAL _{0.70MF mits RATED 1150ME mn omer Minimum flow (MF) _1.7m3/m 108 DIFFERENTIAL HEAD 113m NPGHA 7.8/5.7 (19) HrDRALLIC POWER CI Fig.2: Section of Pump Data Sheet — Cold Condensate Pumps ‘The pumps in the above example were part of the system where the system resistance was variable. ‘There was an all-time possibility of increase in the system resistance leading the pump operation below the MCF point or even pushing the pump into dead head (shut-off} condition when occasionally the system demand was zero. Therefore, pump MCF protection was required. However, considering that the pump was very small (flow / head: 11.8m3/h / 1113m) and a too small quantity of MCF (1.7m3/h), a minimum continuous flow by-pass line was selected as the best eption for pump MCF protection, ‘The pump selection was done based on flow rate “rated flow + minimum flow” instead of just “rated flow”. The following description explains why and how this pum pselection basis werk. Let us assume we select the pump based on “Rated flow’ instead of “Rated flow + minimum flow”. When the minimum continuous flow by-pas line is added to this pump, the system behaves as if the discharge line size has increased. In other words, the system has an additional flow path which causes a Gecrease in the system resistance. In this case, the pump is able to maintain an overall higher flow rate in the system consuming additional chunk of the differential head produced by the pump causing the pump operating point to move down the curve. This causes loss of flow/head to the main process as shown Figure 2 4iPaFig-2: Pump Selected for RF without Considering MCF & Operated with MCF By-pass SlPage‘The illustration in Figure 2 shows how the overall flow maintained by the pump is increased but the head/flow to the main process is decreased. Therefore, the pump behaves as an undersized pump for the required process demand. ‘The correct way of sizing the pump in the above examples to add MCF to the RF, thus the pump should be sized for (11.8 + 17 = 13.5 m3/h). A pump sizing based on this approach would not cause any head/flow loss to the main process as illustrated in Figure 3 below. 4m ” Friction Head (rm HEHE secon and StaticHead ain Process flow: QfmaMny Totalflow through pump 11.8 + 17 Gaya (21.8 41.7) a/b Qiag = 7 mh Fig-3: Pump Selected for (RF + MCF) & Operated with MCF By-pass 6lPaceCONCLUDING REMARKS: Pump MCF protection is a critical requirement for the centrifugal pumps and must be carefully addressed during the FEED and EPC detail engineering stage. Falling to provide MCF protection may result into catastrophie failure of the pump during operation. The process engineer must assess the pumping system and define the MCF protection requirement in the process data sheet for the pump and the same should be indicated in the P&ID's. When a MCF by-pass line is required, the process and mechanical data sheet must say "Rated flow: X + MCF” where X = Rated Flow & MCF = Minimurn Continuous Flow. Alternatively, a nots may be added in the “Rated Flow" celumn to say “Pump is provided with MCF by-pass line, the pump MCF shall be added to the Rated Flow". The Rotating Equipment Engineer must be qualified enough to interpret this requirement in the process data sheet and P&ID’s and must ensure this requirement Is Incorporated in the pump sizing during the TBE (technical bid evaluation) stage. The orifice plate: required for the by-pass line must be induded in the pump vendor scope. The pump vendor must do the orifice plate sizing and should provide the actual materials induding the orifice plate with mating flanges, nuts & bolts and gaskets. The vendor documents mustinclude the orifice plate sizing calculation and reference drawing. The process engineer should do the by-pass line sizing based on the pump data sheets & performance curves provided by the vendor. ‘About theauthor Muhammad imran is |v LUKOIL Overseas Servic Worked for Worl: Equipme 7IPage