Riser system for transporting a slurry from a position adjacent to the seabed to a position adjacent to the sea surface
AssigneeMarine Resources Exploration International BV
InventorDan Costache Patriciu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A riser system for transporting slurry from the seabed to the sea surface. The riser system comprises a first and second riser, a slurry pump system (17) to transport slurry up one of the risers, and a waste water pump system (107) to return waste water down one of the risers. The slurry pump system and the waste water pump system are selectively connectable to each of the risers to allow each riser to be either a slurry riser (1) or a waste water riser (2). With this arrangement, if a slurry riser develops a leak partway along its length the waste water riser can be converted into a slurry riser such that operation can continue.
Claims19
A riser system for transporting a slurry from a position adjacent to a seabed to a position adjacent to a sea surface, the riser system comprising:
- a plurality of risers;
- a slurry pump system to transport slurry up a first one of the risers;
- and
- a waste water pump system to return waste water down a second one of the risers;
- wherein the slurry pump system and the waste water pump system are selectively connectable to each of the risers to allow each riser to be either a slurry riser or a waste water riser.
A riser system for transporting a slurry from a position adjacent to a seabed to a position adjacent to a sea surface, the riser system comprising:
- a plurality of slurry risers, each slurry riser comprising a pump system for pumping slurry along the riser;
- each pump system comprising a plurality of pumps spaced along the slurry riser;
- wherein each pump is provided with a pivotal connection to the slurry riser and is arranged such that once pivotally mounted to the slurry riser, pivotal movement about the pivotal connection brings inlet and outlet ports on the pump into engagement with corresponding ports on the riser system.
A method of configuring a riser system comprising a pair of slurry risers each with a pump system to transport slurry up the riser and a pair of waste water return lines each with a waste water pump to return waste water down the waste water return line, the method comprising:
- disconnecting the waste water pump system from one of the waste water return lines, and connecting the slurry pump system to the waste water return line, thereby turning the waste water return line into a slurry riser.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.