Wear and the Total Cost of Ownership of Slurry Pumps

When slurry pumps are considered for procurement for a solids transport requirement, decisions have often been made on initial price rather than the total cost of ownership (TCO). Depending on the type of solids to be transported, the design (and selection) of the pumps and the way they are operated; the wear, part replacement, and downtime can be a significant portion of the overall operating cost. Wear lives are here estimated with recently developed numerical simulation procedures for pump impeller and suction liner wear together with an established wear modeling schema for shells. White iron material is considered and the resulting modeled wear does not include any uncertainty related to the inherent stochastic nature of wear. It is shown in an example how shell, impeller and suction wear life and relative costs are related to different pump size and rotary speed designs. The results form a basis to find the best compromise between pump wear, power and capital cost in an overall TCO-perspective including the users practice and maintenance strategy.