Process Equipment Update


Pumps cut downtime at water plant


S


ince adopting Bredel SPX50hose pumps from Watson- Marlow Pumps Group in various parts of its process, the water treatment plant at Kembla Grange, located


some 50 km south of Sydney, Australia, has saved significant costs associated with downtime and maintenance. The pumps were selected for tough applications such as pumping abrasive lime slurry and corrosive chlorine solutions, which were causing expensive and inconvenient failures of existing pumps.


Located some 50km south of Sydney, Australia, the water


treatment and filtration plant at Kembla Grange is operated by Veolia Water. It produces 210 ML/day of high quality drinking water across the Illawarra region on behalf of Sydney Water. Failures and downtime are simply not conducive to


efficient operations, so having reliable equipment that can be maintained safely and quickly is vital. “When you add up the ongoing hassles of other


pumps types, it became evident that Bredel pumps were our preference,” says Pino Taglieri, the plant’s Operations Supervisor. “The nature of the hose pump – it just pushes the lime aside with its shoe, they’re gutsy and get the job done.” Hose pumps are well suited to water treatment processes


as they move fluid by compressing a shoe on to a reinforced hose in a circular motion, pushing pockets of fluid downstream quickly and easily by positive displacement. Originally, two progressive cavity pumps had been


specified and installed at Kembla Grange for dosing lime slurry, which is used to maintain and control pH in water. However, the abrasive nature of the substance wreaked havoc on the PC pump’s rotor and stators. “It was hard to maintain the set-point flows and there were


constant blockages,” states Mr Taglieri. “Depending on the demand we’d go through rotors and stators every couple of months, which was a costly exercise. “On top of the parts, it would take two guys two hours to


fix, plus the hassle of cleaning the lines. A few years ago we replaced these with Bredel SPX50s and the hoses last over a year.


“The performance of the pump was far beyond our expectations and we had huge cost savings.” l


For more information, visit www.wmpg.co.uk


As a world leader in centrifuge technology, Broadbent has an enviable reputation for the development of robust, high quality machines you can trust and rely on - combining innovative design with optimum dewatering/separation performance and low maintenance.


Broadbent centrifuges can be found throughout the International process industries on a diversity of applications, including the production of fine chemicals,


pharmaceuticals and minerals.


For products you can trust and rely on, contact:-


Tel: +44 (0) 1484 477200 Fax: +44 (0) 1484 428041 Web: www.broadbent.co.uk E-mail: ipd@broadbent.co.uk


Industrial Process Division, Thomas Broadbent & Sons Ltd. Huddersfield HD1 3EA England.


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