KSB’s pumping prowess has been put to the test by BHP at its Olympic Dam operation in South Australia, with the manufacturer’s GIW® MDX450 mill duty slurry pump coming up trumps, according to a recent case study.
The historical pump installed at Olympic Dam was failing prematurely between 1,600-1,800 hours of operation, which resulted in unplanned maintenance shutdowns, with BHP requiring an alternate solution to reduce shutdowns and maintenance costs.
In line with this, KSB was invited to the mine site to take part in a performance-based trial of its best-in-class cyclone feed pump. Following a detailed analysis of the installation requirements, slurry characteristics and performance requirements KSB Australia recommended a GIW MDX450 mill duty slurry pump. The BHP maintenance team, meanwhile, requested a campaign life of ≥ 2,200 hours, which was accepted by KSB Australia.
The mill duty slurry pump was installed in 2020 and achieved a campaign life that far exceeded the wear life of the competitor pump, according to KSB:
- First campaign = 3,050 hours and still operational;
- Second campaign = >3,000 hours, due to planned shutdown; and
- Third campaign = 3,370 hours and still operational, representing a 98% increase in wear life.
By comparing the KSB GIW MDX450 to the previous pump installed, it was determined that the GIW MDX450, using the patented diverter step and through regular nose gap adjustment, maintains efficiencies for longer, achieving a significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO), KSB said.
As part of the trial, BHP in 2022 invited an alternate pump supplier to perform a study and install a trial pump in the standby position and go head-to-head with the GIW MDX450 mill duty slurry pump to ensure they were achieving the optimum life. The alternate pump installed had two campaigns each lasting =/< 2000 hours of wear life.
Based on wear life and total cost of ownership, KSB in 2024 has been awarded the standby position meaning two GIW MDX450 mill duty slurry pumps will be installed on the Svedala Mill circuit.
With two GIW® MDX450 mill duty slurry pumps installed on the Svedala Mill circuit, BHP will, KSB says, achieve the following:
- Increase safety with less manual maintenance on the mill pumps required;
- Reduced planned pump maintenance cycles from approximately five to two per year;
- Lower total cost of ownership; and
- More reliability for the grinding and classification circuit.
Following this success, KSB has now installed GIW SLYsight on the GIW MDX450 mill duty slurry pump. SLYsight allows for the in-situ condition monitoring providing real-time data back to BHP maintenance and operations personal. This allows BHP to better plan maintenance work, ensures maximum operating times for the individual pump components and adds another safety control aspect to the suction liner adjustment process.
