Viking jacketed pumps cover bitumen transfer from Kelair Pumps

Sales Engineer Anthony Sidawi (NSW)

A major bitumen company in Sydney contacted Kelair regarding the transfer of bitumen in their process.

The viscosity of bitumen varies widely with type and temperature, normally handled in the 25 to 200 deg C range at which viscosity is usually in the 50 to 3000 Cp.

For pumping bitumen, Kelair usually offers cast iron pumps constructed with bronze bushing and packed gland shaft seal. Steel rotors are used when viscosity is high.

Kelair also offers jacketed pumps. These pumps provide a cavity, or a jacket, on the external wall of the pump through which steam or heat transfer liquid can be passed to control the temperature of the fluid in the pump. The heat transfer medium flows in a closed loop back to the boiler or heater.

Applications include melting ambient temperature solids which solidify in the pump when it cools, and maintaining precise temperature control in the process. Kelair usually offers bitumen pumps with jacketed bearing housing and jacketed pressure relief valve.

For this specific tank loading pump application, the pump had 28m of suction line, so NPSH was very critical. After detailed calculation, the NPSH available was 2.8m so a 6" Viking internal gear pump running at 165 rpm was selected. The NPSH required by the pump is 1.3m.

The client was impressed with the attention to detail by Kelair's staff in selecting the right pump for the application, so he purchased five units.