One of Barr’s borate mining clients was experiencing problems with the crystallizer system in its processing plant. The slurry piping had severely degraded and the evaporation circuit wasn’t functioning properly, and those issues were contributing to inconsistent operations and production.
Barr redesigned aspects of each circuit. Upgrading the slurry section included replacing the pump and redesigning the piping system for erosion resilience. For the evaporation section, we redesigned the overhead piping to automate the rate of cooling-water flow to the condensers and ejectors, and added a steam dryer to provide higher-quality steam to those components. We also redesigned the seal tank and adjacent piping to facilitate control of water flow and level.
Key to repairing and improving our client’s legacy systems were our decades of experience with slurry systems and our familiarity with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as our knowledge of how to size pipes to address settling velocity. In addition, Barr reduced the potential for erosion in the piping by incorporating sweep elbows; improved control of processes by adding automation; and contained construction costs by choosing specific couplings.