Tackling tough water treatment jobs

UK water treatment specialist Siltbuster has reported that a number of recent applications have seen its Bredel hose pumps, from Watson-Marlow, tested to the full.

Since the launch of the original Siltbuster unit in 2003, Siltbuster has become an authority on water treatment, wet waste and the prevention of waterborne pollution from construction and industrial sites. Among the company’s solutions is a range of equipment for silt management and the prevention, control and treatment of water contamination.

“We’ve been using Bredel pumps in our solutions for a number of years and have amassed quite a number,” said project engineer Alex Spyropoulos. “Sludge transfer on DAF (dissolved air flotation) units is a good example of an application where we have extensive numbers of Bredel pumps in action. Here, we use Bredel 25, 40 and 50 heavy-duty hose pumps to help manage sludge production.

“Bredel pumps produce much higher pressure on the discharge side, which also makes them favourable over electric diaphragm pumps in applications where there is a steep gradient or deep tank. The fact that they are self-priming offers additional process benefits over some alternative pump technologies.”

Spyropoulos can recall a couple of recent applications where the product being pumped tested Bredel’s technology to its limits.

“One of the applications I have witnessed involved a switch from a progressive cavity pump to Bredel hose pump at a brewery which had kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) amongst other difficult media in the sludge,” he said. “It proved to be highly abrasive on the PC pump, but the Bredel managed very well. This, in addition to the fact the Bredel units are able to handle a considerable volume of sludge, means we consider this technology to be tough and fit for purpose.”

Elsewhere, Spyropoulos recounts an application at a refinery, where Bredel 50 pumps were deployed to pump crude oil.

“Pumping crude oil is a very aggressive application, so we used Bredel CSM hose elements to ensure chemical compatibility and good hose life,” he said.

In applications such as these, the selection of hose elements is critical to ensuring pump performance and durability. Bredel CSM composite-reinforced hoses are constructed from high-quality compounded rubbers reinforced with four individual layers of braided nylon and finished by high-precision machining.

Bredel hose pumps have tackled tough media such as kieselguhr and crude oil with ease, indicating that the robust pumps are suitable for extreme tasks.