Maintenance procedure for improved sustainability of DSM

pump load shifting projects

HJ Groenewald, JF van Rensburg & JH Marais

Abstract - Mine dewatering systems are energy intensive and less electricity than multistage centrifugal pumps, include
present ample opportunity for the implementation of electricity
turbine pumps and three-chamber pipe feeder
cost saving measures. One such electricity cost saving measure is
systems (3-CPFS) [4].
the implementation of load shifting projects to shift pumping load
from the peak periods to the off-peak periods of the Eskom Fig. 1 shows the layout of a mine's dewatering system,
Megaflex tariff structure. However, past experience has shown that henceforth referred to as Mine A, where a combination of
the electricity cost savings generated by a pump load shifting conventional centrifugal pumps are used in conjunction with
project can deteriorate without proper maintenance. The major a 3-CPFS. The hot water from the mining operations
causes of the deterioration were therefore investigated with the aim
accumulate in the Level 66 hot dam. The pumping station on
of developing a maintenance procedure. The maintenance
procedure consists of four sections: data loss prevention,
Level 66 consists of six dewatering pumps that pump the
mechanical failure prevention, control & instrumentation water from the Level 66 hot dam to the Level 45 hot dam.
maintenance and control parameter optimisation. The developed The mine also has a 3-CPFS installed on Level 45 that
maintenance procedure was implemented on the dewatering pumps water from the Level 45 hot dam to the surface hot
systems of South African gold mines. Results indicate that the dam. There is also a conventional pumping station on Level
application of the maintenance procedure resulted in both increased
45. This pumping station serves as backup for the 3-CPFS.
electricity cost savings and sustained performance.
The Level 45 pumping station consists of three pumps that
Index Terms- DSM; mine dewatering; load shifting; can also pump water from the Level 45 hot dam to the
maintenance procedure; sustainability surface hot dam.

1 INTRODUCTION
F

j tdl ::�: bd
The price of electricity in South Africa has risen above
the inflation rate since 2008. From 2008 to 2015, electricity
___________ _________________________________ __ o_ ' __________________________ _____ _
tariffs increased by 300%, while inflation over this period
3-CPFS

was 45% [1]. These above-inflation electricity cost increases

have resulted in a situation where electricity costs can make
up as much as 19% of the total operating costs of a typical
South African gold mines [2]. This has motivated the gold
mining sector to both reduce electricity usage and
implement electricity cost savings projects.

2 MINE DEWATERING

Water used for various mmmg purposes, and natural Fig. 1. Simplified layout of the dewatering system of Mine A
ground water, accumulates at the bottom of a deep level
gold mine. This water needs to be pumped to surface to 3 LOAD SHIFTING
prevent mine flooding. The water is normally pumped to
A proven measure for reducing the electricity cost of
surface by a series of multi-stage centrifugal pumps installed
dewatering pumps is to implement a load shifting project.
on various mining levels. These pumps are generally
This is achieved by controlling the dewatering pumps to
powered by electrical motors ranging from 1500 to 4000
minimise pumping during the expensive peak periods of the
MW.
Eskom Megaflex tariff structure, while maximising pumping
Multi-stage dewatering pumps are therefore one of the
during off-peak periods when lower tariffs apply.
biggest consumers of electricity on a deep level gold mine
Load shifting is made possible by using the water storage
and account for approximately 15% of the total electricity
dams on the various mining levels as buffers [5]. Pumping is
costs [3]. Alternative dewatering equipment, that consume
maximised in off-peak periods to ensure that the water
storage dams reach their minimum levels at the start of the
peak period. This ensures that water can flow into the
storage dams during the peak period without the need to
H.J. Groenewald,CRCED-Pretoria,North-West University, Pretoria,
utilise more than the minimum number of dewatering
South Africa (e-mail: hgroenewald@researchtoolbox.com).
J.F. van Rensburg,CRCED-Pretoria,North-West University, Pretoria, pumps.
South Africa (e-mail: 10728023@nwu.ac.za) Load shifting can either be achieved through manual or
J.H. Marais,CRCED-Pretoria,North-West University, Pretoria,South
automated pump control. Manual control entails that pumps
Africa (e-mail: jhmarais@researchtoolbox.com).
are manually stopped or started by control room operators or performance of the pump load shifting project at Mine B
pump attendants. Automated pump control entails a control decreased over a period of 12 months. This resulted in
system that automatically controls pumps according to a missed electricity cost savings opportunities of
pre-defined control philosophy. approximately R1.5-million.
Although pump attendants or control room operators can
be instructed to manage dam levels and control pumps to 4 REASONS FOR UNDERPERFORMANCE
achieve load shifting, this manual load-shifting intervention
There are various reasons for the underperformance of
is subject to interruption. This is because the initiative will
load shifting projects on the dewatering system of a deep
only last as long as there is someone who monitors the load­
level gold mine. These vary from software problems related
shifting performance on a regular basis; or if the pump
to the control system to mechanical problems such as
attendants or control room operators are incentivised for the
dewatering pumps with low efficiency.
performance of their manual load-shifting attempts. A fully
Consider for example the load shifting project on Mine
automated control system, that is maintained correctly, will
A where the performance of the project depends on the
therefore be more sustainable than manual load shifting.
proper operation of the 3-CFPS. If the 3-CPFS is not
Fig. 2 shows a typical power profile, over 24 hours,
operational, the three conventional pumps on Level 45 must
which was achieved through the implementation of a
be used to pump the water from the Level 45 hot dam to the
successful pump load shifting project on the dewatering
surface hot dam. However, only two of these pumps can be
system of a mine, henceforth referred to as Mine B.
simultaneously used on Level 45.
An average hourly morning-peak load shift of 3.3 MW
The problematic aspect is the lower flow rate of the
and an average hourly evening-peak load shift of 4.6 MW
Level 45 pumps in comparison with the flow rate delivered
were achieved on this mine in November 2014. If correctly
by the 3-CPFS. The 3-CPFS achieves a flow rate of about
maintained, this project will generate an annual electricity
400 eis, which is significantly higher than the combined
cost saving of more than R5-million (based on the
flow rate achieved by the two pumps on Level 45, which
2015/2016 Megaflex tariffs for users located within 300 km
average at 260 els.
of Johannesburg and a supply voltage ranging from 500V to
The result of the lower flow rate of the conventional
66kV).
pumps on Level 45 is a drastic reduction in the buffer
capacity of the Level 45 hot dam, which is required for load
shifting. This often necessitates that the Level 45 pumps
often have to pump throughout the peak periods if the 3-
CPFS is unavailable.
Fig. 4 shows how the statuses of the Level 45 pumps and
the 3-CPFS affect the flow rate from Level 45 to surface.

Fig. 2. Typical power profile of a successful load shifting project

on Mine B

12

Fig. 4. Flow versus status of Level 45 pumps and 3-CPFS on

10 Mine A

[ 8 The statuses of the Level 45 pumps indicate the number

of running pumps. The status of the 3-CPFS varies between
6
o and 1, where 0 indicates no operation and 1 indicates full
i
.5 4 operation of the 3-CPFS. Values between 0 and 1 represent
• partial operation. It is important to note the increase in flow
2
rate when the 3-CPFS is operational.
0
- I Fig. 5 illustrates the negative impact on project
performance of interruptions in the operation of the 3-CPFS.
On 26 January 2015, the 3-CPFS was operational for only
61% of the time during the morning-peak period. This
Fig. 3. Gradual perfonnance decrease of a pwnp load shifting
project
enabled only partial load shifting in the first two hours of the
morning peak. The 3-CPFS was however not operational
However, the performance of load shifting projects on from 15:00 to 19:00. This prevented any load shift during
dewatering pumps can be expected to decrease without the evening peak period.
proper maintenance. Fig. 3 therefore shows how the

Fig. 5. Impact of interrupted operation of 3-CPFS on project
perfonnance Mine A
Fig. 6 in contrast shows the impact on project
performance on a day when there was only one interruption
in the operation of the 3-CPFS. The interruption occurred
from 21:30 to 22:45. The fact that the interruption only
occurred after the evening peak prevented it from having
any effect on load shifting in the peak periods. It only
affected the preparation for the morning load shift of the
following day.
Fig. 6. Impact of operational 3-CPFS on project performance -
Mine A
5 CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE
Studies conducted on the performance of maintenance
systems in the South African mining industry indicated a
predominantly reactive culture towards maintenance [6] &
[7]. This maintenance type, known as "run to failure", is the
least desirable maintenance method. It can only be used for
equipment that is not critical to safe operation and/or
production.
A better solution is to implement advanced maintenance
techniques such as reliability-centred maintenance [8] or
condition-based maintenance [9]. Condition-based
maintenance involves monitoring the condition of critical
equipment in order to perform maintenance only when the
need arises. This maintenance techniques relies on the
availability of condition monitoring instrumentation.
Unfortunately, the relatively high cost of condition
monitoring instrumentation prevents the application of
condition-based maintenance on South African mines.
The automation of dewatering pumps requires the
installation of equipment such as network infrastructure,
automated valves and instrumentation such as power and
water flow meters. This equipment can also be used to
implement a condition-based maintenance system. For
example, it will enable the monitoring of the energy
consumption of the pumps in comparison to the amount of
water pumped. Any drastic change in this figure will
indicate a reduction in pump efficiency that may necessitate
a maintenance intervention. The maintenance procedure
presented in this paper is based on this principle, .i.e. using
existing infrastructure to implement a maintenance
procedure on an automated mine dewatering system.
6 MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE
An analysis of the underperformance of load shifting
projects on mine dewatering systems therefore resulted in
the development of a maintenance procedure, shown in Fig.
7 [10]. The maintenance procedure consists of four different
sections. Each section is aimed at addressing a specific type
of problem that causes underperformance.
Section 1: Data loss prevention
The complexity of industrial networks and
communication systems present many potential problems
that can result in data loss. In the event of such data loss the
maintenance procedure states that data must be retrieved and
manually processed. The original data can be collected from
various points in the system - including the SCADA,
control servers or log sheets. Addressing the cause of the
current data loss will prevent future data loss.
Section 2: Mechanical failure prevention
The value of this maintenance procedure lies in the
detection of mechanical failures and the identification of the
components involved. The required repairs should also be
promptly performed to minimise any negative impact on
project performance.
Section 3: Control and instrumentation maintenance
Maintenance on control and instrumentation can be
divided into three categories, namely, software,
communication and instrumentation. Detailed maintenance
procedures for each of these three categories were
developed and incorporated into the overall maintenance
procedure.
Section 4: Control parameter optimisation
Control parameter maintenance is divided into three
categories, namely, constraints, preferences and feedback.
System constraints include values such as the maximum
number of pumps that can be simultaneously utilised on
each pumping station, dam sizes and pump capacities.
Preferences are client specific and include, for example,
aspects like minimum and maximum dam levels and
additional criterion for certain pumps to operate. Continuous
feedback between all stakeholders is also important to
ensure that system changes are incorporated in the control
philosophy.
 Yes - Maintenance not required 4 000 R 800 000

3500 R 700 000

-
3 000 .,......, R 600 000

:2 2500 1\ R500 000

c
t:i 2 000 \ R 400 000
�
.§ 1500 / \ R 300 000

1 000
1/ \ R 200 000

500 R 100 000

No
0 RO
Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14

- Peak impact -Winter 2012 - Peak inl-lact -Winter 2013 - Peak impact -Winter 2014

-CoSlsavings -Winter 2012 -Costsa\1ngs -Winter 2013 -Costsa\1ngs -Winter 2014

FIg. 8. Year-on-year comparIson of Impact and cost savmgs for

Mine A

70

60t-------�

so t------------------------------------e,{�, � I� .
I
4 0 t----------------------------.�� � ,1H�1H�1H� 1� 1� �

No

� � � � � � � � �

� I i;
� tz � <:I �. �
0 '- " 0
:El <:if � 0 " � � < �. ] :El <if � 0 6
z 0 " �
Yes
DCumulatiyc im pact • Cumulatiyc target

Fig. 9. Year-on-year comparison of impact and cost savings for

Mine C

8 CONCLUSION

DSM load shifting projects are a proven method for

implemented
Regular
communication
between client
and ESCO
Fig. 7. Maintenance procedure
7 RESULTS
A comparison of the year-on-year performance of the
load shifting project on the dewatering pumps of Mine A,
during the Megaflex high-demand months, is shown in Fig.
8. The maintenance procedure was applied to the load
shifting project on Mine A's dewatering pumps at the start
of 2013. The drastic performance increase, as a result of the
application of the maintenance procedure, is clearly shown
by the significant increases in both load-shifting
performance and cost savings in the months after
implementation.
Fig. 9 shows the cumulative impact versus the cumulative
target of the load shifting project on Mine C, where the
maintenance procedure was implemented in the first half of
2013. The project therefore consistently over achieved on its
average hourly evening peak target of 2.29 MW.
reducing the high electricity costs of mine dewatering
pumps. However, these projects require dedicated
maintenance to ensure sustainability. A maintenance
procedure for load shifting projects on mine dewatering
systems was therefore presented in this paper. This
procedure is focused on four sections, i.e. data loss
prevention, mechanical failure prevention, control &
instrumentation maintenance and control parameter
optimisation.
The maintenance procedure was applied to load shifting
projects on the dewatering systems of South African gold
mines. The results of these implementations proved the
positive effect of the application of the maintenance
procedure. Future work includes the adaptation of the
maintenance procedure for DSM projects on other energy
intensive equipment such as compressors and fridge plants.
REFERENCES
[I] s. Moolman, 'lnfographic: Eskom tariff increases vs inflation
since 1988 (with projections to 2017)',POlVeroptima/, 2015.
[Onlinej. Available: http://www.poweroptimal.com/infographic­
eskom-tariff-increases-vs-inflation-since-19881. [Accessed: 15-
Jun-2015j.
[2] Sibanye Gold, 'Integrated Annual Report 2014',2014.
[3] A Botha, 'Optimising the demand of a mine water reticulation
system to reduce energy consumption',North-West University,
2010.
[4] S. Bierschenk and P. Fraser, 'Tshepong: A successful energy
recovery operation',in Rise of the machines conference, 2006.
[5] H. J Groenewald,A. Stols,and J F. van Rensburg, 'The value of
maintaining a DSM load shifting project on mine dewatering
pumps', Proceedings of the 10th conference on the industrial and
commercia/ use of energy, pp. 119-122,2013.
[6] R. L. M. Kotze and J. K. Visser, 'An analysis of maintenance
performance systems in the South African mining industry',
South Aji-ican Journal of Industrial Engineering, vol. 23,pp. 13-
29,2012.
[7] C. J. Visagie, 'Successful outsourcing of maintenance in the
mining industry: methods and principles',University of
Johannesburg, 2005.
[8] J. Moubray,Reliability-centred maintenance, Second edition.
Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann imprint of Elsevier,1997.
[9] R. Ahmad and S. Kamaruddin, 'An overview of time-based and
condition-based maintenance in industrial application',
Computers and Industrial Engineering, vol. 63. pp. 135-149,
2012.
[10] H. L. Grobbelaar, 'Maintenance procedures on DSM pumping
projects to improve sustainability',North-West University,2015.

9 AUTHORS BIOS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Handre Groenewald is a registered

professional engineer who holds a Master's
degree in electronic engineering. He is enrolled
for a PhD at North-West University.

Dr. Johann van Rensburg is a registered

professional engineer and holds a PhD in
electrical engineering from North-West
University. He is a lecturer at the CRCED
Pretoria, a division of North-West University.

Dr. Johan Marais holds a PhD in Electrical

Engineering from the North-West University.
He is enrolled for post-doctoral studies with
CRCED Pretoria, a division of North-West
University.

Presenting author: The paper will be presented by Dr. Johan

Marais.