Materials Handling
Peristaltic pumps solve difficult pumping problems
Many pumps struggle to pump abrasive and corrosive fluids, causing expensive and inconvenient equipment failures. Peristaltic pumping overcomes these problems.
Viele Pumpen haben Schwierigkeiten beim Fördern ätzender und korrodierender Flüssigkeiten, wodurch es zu teuren und lästigen Ausfällen der Ausrüstung kommt. Mit Peristaltikpumpen können diese Probleme überwunden werden.
De nombreuses pompes ont des problèmes avec les fluides abrasifs et corrosifs, provoquant des pannes d’équipement qui s’avèrent coûteuses et contraignantes. Les pompes péristaltiques permettent de surmonter ces problèmes.
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Fig. 1. Peristaltic pumping overcame the problem of pumping abrasive lime slurry.
ince adopting Bredel SPX50 hose pumps from Watson-Marlow Pumps Group in various parts of its process, the water treatment plant at Kembla Grange in 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 (Fig. 1). Located 50km south of Sydney, the water
treatment and filtration plant at Kembla Grange is operated by Veolia Water. It produces 210 million litres/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. “It’s 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 pump’s rotor and stators. “It was hard to maintain the set-point flows
and there were constant blockages,” states 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.” The inherent design of Bredel hose pumps
means there are no intrusions in the flow path, eliminating any risk of blockages. This makes them particularly adept at handling problematic fluids such as abrasive lime, chemicals or sludge with high solids content, for example. It was a similar story in another part of the
plant where two piston diaphragm pumps were originally specified and installed to pump a chlorine solution into a 750 mm main at 16 bar. Chlorine is a corrosive disinfectant, in effect bleach, making it a tough application. “These pumps were a nightmare to maintain,
the amount of time and effort involved as well as getting the parts. It would take up to a day and a half to get each pump up and running; from the set-up, the timing, and so on.” Taglieri again turned to Bredel pumps
for the solution. Bredel pumps are self- priming and dry-running, making them easy to start and stop. Relative to other pump types, Bredel hose pumps have one wearing part – the hose. In this instance, the two SPX50s installed at Kembla Grange were fitted with Hypalon hoses, which offer excellent chemical resistance. “They last 3-4 months and take an
hour to switch out - what a difference it has made,” adds Taglieri.
Detailed design Verderflex, the producer of innovative, green peristaltic pumps has released the new Dura 45 in the first of a new generation of medium flow, industrial hose pumps.
www.engineerlive.com 23
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