Sulfuric Acid Pump Diaphragm Parallel Connection for Continuous HPAL Leaching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high pressure acid leaching method for nickel oxide ore requires frequent maintenance and inspection of sulfuric acid supply pumps, leading to decreased working rates and leaching efficiency due to the need for standby pumps, which disrupts the continuous addition of sulfuric acid during maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A sulfuric acid adding facility with multiple sulfuric acid supply pumps, where more than half of the diaphragms in each pump are operated during normal conditions, allowing for parallel operation of spare pumps, thereby increasing the maximum capacity and working rate by distributing sulfuric acid through multiple pipes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standby pump is prepared for maintenance and inspection, then the reliability of sulfuric acid supply is improved, but the productivity and working rate decrease due to pump shutdowns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of multiple pumps by connecting them in parallel to the same sulfuric acid addition pipe. During normal operation, both the operating pump and standby pump are connected to the pipe, allowing the standby pump to contribute to sulfuric acid addition. When maintenance is needed, the standby pump can take over completely, eliminating shutdowns and maintaining continuous productivity while ensuring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The standby pump is prepared in advance and connected to the sulfuric acid addition pipe before maintenance is needed. This preliminary configuration allows for seamless switching between pumps without interrupting the sulfuric acid addition process, thereby maintaining both reliability and productivity during maintenance operations.
2Productivity
If the standby pump is operated in parallel, then the productivity and working rate increase, but the device complexity increases due to additional pump connections
Solution Approach 1:
The sulfuric acid addition pipe is designed to serve multiple functions: it can receive sulfuric acid from either the operating pump or the standby pump, or both simultaneously. This multi-functionality allows the system to increase productivity through parallel operation while managing complexity by using a shared infrastructure that can adapt to different operational modes.
3Productivity
If sulfuric acid is added through multiple discharge ports, then the productivity increases, but the device complexity increases due to multiple pipe connections
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple discharge ports from different pumps are merged into a single sulfuric acid addition pipe. This consolidation allows the system to leverage the combined capacity of multiple pumps and discharge ports to increase productivity, while the shared pipe infrastructure prevents exponential growth in system complexity that would result from completely separate piping for each discharge port.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enhances the operational efficiency and capacity of the sulfuric acid supply system, minimizing disruptions during maintenance and maintaining high leaching rates by allowing continuous sulfuric acid addition even when one pump is stopped for maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
a diaphragm pump, which is a type of positive displacement pump, is frequently used... discharge ports of more than half of three or more diaphragms of a kth (k is an integer from 1 to n+1) sulfuric acid supply pump are connected to a kth sulfuric acid addition pipe
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided are a sulfuric acid adding facility and an operation method therefor which enable an increase in the maximum capacity and the operation rate of a sulfuric acid supply pump provided in the sulfuric acid adding facility. In a sulfuric acid adding facility 10, sulfuric acid is added to an autoclave 1 used in a leaching step of a high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) method for a nickel oxide ore. The sulfuric acid adding facility is provided with the same number (n+1) (n is an integer, at least 1) of each of the following: a plurality of sulfuric acid adding pipes 11 for adding sulfuric acid into the autoclave 1; and a plurality of sulfuric acid supply pumps 12 for supplying sulfuric acid to the sulfuric acid adding pipes 11. Each of the first through n+1th sulfuric acid supply pumps 12 includes at least three diaphragms 21 and discharge ports 22 of the same number as that of the diaphragms 21. The discharge ports 22 of more than half the diaphragms 21, from among the at least three diaphragms 21 of the kth (k is an integer, from 1 to n+1) sulfuric acid supply pump 12 are connected to the kth sulfuric acid adding pipe 11, and the discharge ports 22 of less than half the diaphragms 21 are connected to a sulfuric acid adding pipe 11 other than the kth sulfuric acid adding pipe 11.