TAILOR-MADE SOLUTIONS

Sulzer Pumps delivers pipeline pumps with interchangeable hydraulics, enabling possible flexible operation Two pumps in one casing

Russia is currently building a pipeline system almost 5000 km long, that connects oil fields in Siberia with markets farther east, e.g., and . Because this pipeline system is being built in two stages, the operating conditions for the pumps i nstalled in the initial phase will change as pipeline length and required flow increase for the final phase. Sulzer Pumps developed pumps with interchangeable hydraulics in one casing, a feature that allows changing the pump characteristics according to the stage of pipeline construction.

ussia is keen to develop more pipeline system. Once fully constructed, The first part of the pipeline, with a outlets for its massive reserves of ESPO will transport crude oil from fields diameter of 1.22m, links in east Rcrude oil. The gateway to the east in eastern Siberia and the Khanty-Mansi Siberia’s region to Skovorodino for Russian oil will be the eastern Siberia Autonomous Okrug in western Siberia in the Amur region, in ’s far east. Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline, a to the Asian Pacific markets of Japan, There will also be a branch from 4700km (2900 mile) pipeline system China, and Korea . Skovorodino to Daqing in China, with a operated by Transneft, a Russian state- ESPO’s first stage comprises the con- planned capacity of 30 million tons a year. owned company responsible for the struction of a 2757km (1713 mile) section The second stretch will run an addi- national oil pipelines . With a total with a capacity of 30 million tons (220.5 tional 2100 km (1304 mile) to the east network length of almost 50000km, million barrels) of oil per year. One oil from Skovorodino to the Pacific Ocean Transneft owns the world’s largest barrel equals 42 US gallons or 159 liters. terminal at Kozmi no. This terminal can

In the harsh and remote Siberian environment it is important that the installed pumps are efficient, reliable, and require a minimum of maintenance.

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Government- 600 Kilometer 600 Miles proposed far east oil and gas pipelines West Siberian oil & gas fields Russia

East Siberian oil & gas fields Sea of Okhotsk Baikal-Amur Mainline Omsk Tomsk Tynda

Skovorodino Tayshet Vanino Pavlodar Lake of Baikal Angarsk Khabarvosk

Daqing Mongolia Vladivostok

Sea of Japan

––– Oil pipeline Beijing ---- Proposed oil pipeline Yellow See ––– Gas pipeline China ---- Proposed gas pipeline

Main design serve tankers with deadweights from and thus the required head to be deliv- Phase 1 data of the pumps 80000t to 150000t and will eventually ered by the pumps. As more oil fields are Discharge Flow 4500 m3/h 3 for the 2 phases have three loading booms. The second connected to the system, the required 159 000 ft /h Variable speed 1542–2910 min-1 of ESPO. leg of ESPO will pump 367.5 million flow rate increases compared with the Power consumption 4.6 MW barrels of oil annually, whereas the initial configuration . The parameters Phase 2 Discharge Flow 9600–12 000 m3/h capacity of the stretch from Tayshet to head, discharge flow, and rotating speed 340 000–424 000 ft3/h Skovorodino will finally be raised to an determine the specific speed of a pump Maximum 375 m (1230 ft) at minimum 3 3 annual 588 million barrels. and thus influence the shape of the differentialhead flow (9600 m /h; 340 000 ft /h) Variable speed 1465–2695 min-1 Along the route, 32 pumping stations impeller. Power 13 MW, driver rating 14.5 MW will move the fluid, including 13 stations Specific speed is a characteristic Design Pressure 105 bar (1523 psi) Hydrotest Pressure 150 bar (2176 psi) with a total tank-farm storage capacity number for each pump hydraulic and it of 2.67 million cubic meters (94310000ft3). increases with higher flow and lower Each pumping station will comprise three head. For the ESPO pumps, the changing pumps in series and one spare pump. In head and flow rate made it impossible the first phase, six pumping stations are to cover all requirements with a single hydraulics. Once all oil fields are hooked required to move the oil eastwards. pump. In the initial phase, a pump with up, the flow rate increases such that it is The first phase also includes the lower specific speed is required, whereas, too high for the initial low flow-hydraulic. construction of an export terminal and in the final phase, the necessary specific At this stage, Sulzer will install the high- of a dedicated 35MW power station in speed is higher. In order to keep the flow impeller. Olyokminsk. In this power station, five invest ment as low as possible and to The volute casing is hydraulically generating sets with crude-oild-fire facilitate flexible operation of the pipeline, designed such that it matches the per- engines will deliver the electricity to the engineers of Sulzer Pumps designed formance of the high-flow impeller. power the remote pumping stations. two hydraulic configurations consisting In November 2006, Sulzer Pumps of one impeller / diffuser set for the initial Design for maximum load received the order from Russia to design phase and one impeller for the final phase With higher flow rate and head, the and build the pumps for the first phase that fit into the same pump casing. required power input increases. This of this exceptional project. The order For the first construction phase of higher pow er means that shaft, bearings, includes main pipeline pumps as well ESPO, the flow and head requirements and casing have to handle higher loads as vertical-booster and vertical-loading are considerably lower than for the final in the final expansion stage. The Sulzer pumps. phase. The first phase hydraulic has a specialists designed all mechanical parts smaller impeller diameter but approxi- so that they can take the increased load Flexible operation possible mately the same shaft diameter as the when the pipeline operates at full length In the initial phase, the pipeline is shorter, final flow hydraulic. The diffuser for and full capacity. Thanks to this and fewer production systems are hooked phase one accommodates the lower flow approach, no change is required to the up to the system. The length of the rate and fits into the volute type pump pump casing, shaft seal, or bearing pipeline influences the pressure losses casing that is matched to the phase two assembly when changing the hydraulics

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Velocity min max

CFD supported the pump design. The diffuser inserts guide the flow in the volute, designed for flow rate which will be almost tripled in phase 2.

for the higher discharge. Also, the shaft The flow field analysis of the full stage Pumps carried out string tests with the remains the same for both hydraulic gave the designers valuable insight and pumps in the Leeds (UK) workshop, designs. Equally, the whole drive system helped to optimize rotor/stator interac- which was also responsible for pump is designed for the full-load case. tion to achieve maximum efficiency and manufacturing. For the tests of the These features make the ESPO pumps low-pressure pulsations for the wide designs in both the initial and the final like two pumps in one casing, both range of given operating conditions. phases Sulzer built a special test bed in working around the best efficiency point Leeds. This new installation made it in their specific operating range. In Stringent mechanical analysis possible to execute out tests across addition to the hydraulic adjustments, a Today, the design of a pump is an inte- the full operating ranges and at the variable-speed drive further increases grated process including hydraulic maximum power of 14.5 MW. 24 string operational flexibility. development and structural analysis. tests were carried out over a period The experts at Sulzer Pumps had to Before a hydraulic contour is re leased for of ten months to prove the complete develop a pump that could operate at model or prototype manufacturing, it also integrity of the skidded units. optimum efficiency with flow rates of has to pass stringent mechanical analysis 4500 and 12000m3/h. Such a demanding with the most advanced tools using the design task required the use of the most finite element method (FEM) . modern tools in Sulzer’s R&D depart- The mechanical design department ment in Winterthur (Switzerland). Com- carried out a complete 3D calculation of putational fluid dynamics (CFD) made the pump casing, including bolts, nuts, Precisely machined model pumps it possible to predict the interaction and gasket for the most critical load cases. at a reduced scale enable the designers to fine-tune the hydraulic design on the between rotor and stator for the low-flow The hydrotest pressure of 150 bar was development test rig. and the high-flow operating condition. checked as well as the risk of interstage leakage and the deformations and stresses in the casing.

Fine-tuning on the test rig In order to verify the CFD based impeller design, Sulzer carried out model tests in the Winterthur laboratory . Scaled- Structural analysis down models of the hydraulics for phase of the casing for the one and phase two were machined from most critical load cases ensures aluminum blocks using a high-precision mechanical integrity five-axis milling machine. The measure- of the full operational ments confirmed the CFD predictions for life of the pumps. the hydrauli c configurations with the lower specific speed for phase one, whereas the design for the second phase needed some fine tuning on the test rig. In addition to the model test, Sulzer

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Pumping station of the ESPO pipeline with Sulzer pumps in operation.

Service contract to ensure reliable nel of the customer on the Sulzer pumps. operation Vostoknefteprovod Limited Liability The ESPO pipeline is in the focus of Company, the operating company of the Paul Meuter the Russian government, because it ESPO pipeline is a subsidiary of Transneft. Sulzer Pumps Ltd connects the west Siberian Oil fields The Sulzer teams are based in the Zürcherstrasse 12 8401 Winterthur with China . Russian Prime Minister customer’s service centers in and Switzerland Vladimir Putin inaugurated the ESPO oil Neryungri, east Siberia, and sequentially Phone +41 52 262 85 93 [email protected] pipeline during a ceremony at the visit each of the pumping stations. In Kozmino oil terminal on December 28, these pumping stations, the main B rian Germaine Sulzer Pumps (UK) Ltd. 2009, calling it a “strategic project”. There- pipeline pumps and additional booster Manor Mill Lane fore, its safe and reliable operation is of pumps, all manufactured by Sulzer Leeds LS11 8BR United Kingdom high importance. To ensure best-quality Pumps UK, work around the clock. Phone +44 113 272 45 28 maintenance to minimize unexpected The oil deliveries by the pipeline [email protected] outages, a service contract was signed in started in early 2010 and the first cargo Frank Nissen December 2009. In the scope of this of oil was delivered to Japan’s Mitsubishi Sulzer Pumpen Deutschland GmbH Ernst-Blickle-Strasse 29 service contract, two teams of Sulzer through ESPO on January 30, 2010, 76646 Bruchsal service engineers supervise the technical according to the Russian oil producer Germany Phone +49 7251 76 144 maintenance performed by the person- Gazprom Neft. [email protected]

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