Vesconite Bearings is supplying a Georgia-based vertical-turbine pump manufacturer with a 5000-unit blanket wear-rings order, allowing the manufacturer to request low-friction Vesconite Hilube polymer wear rings for 10 of its vertical-turbine-pump models.

The company ordered its first Vesconite Hilube wear rings in 2015 and, after testing, started ordering larger quantities from 2017. In March 2019, Vesconite visited the pump manufacturer and finalised fixed volume requirements and pricing for the blanket order. The company supplies the central and south-eastern USA with pumps for the municipal, industrial, fire and flood-control industries.

The order covers a one-year period and allows the company to regularly draw on the 5000-unit blanket wear rings order. Vesconite Bearings technical sales representative, Charlie Simpson, said: “The company sees the value of using the product and has switched all of its wear rings to Vesconite Hilube ones in all of its own-brand vertical-turbine pumps.”

Vesconite Hilube wear rings allow for extremely close clearances to ensure greater pump efficiencies and are designed for use with mildly acidic or basic liquid

SCHROEDAHL, a CIRCOR International brand has announced that new, self-modulating TDL Automatic Recirculation Valves (ARVs) are now available in cast material that is more than 35% lighter.

The all-in-one pump protection solutions are designed to keep pumping systems running smoothly in firefighting, refinery, power and chemical applications without cavitation or overheating.

Unlike control valve packages, the self-operated flow-sensitive Schroedahl TDL Automatic Recirculation Valves operate without a separate power supply or any control system and begin protection as soon as they are installed.

The valves combine a high-quality main line check valve and the automatic bypass control system in a new, durable design. The valves’ self-actuated integrated bypass control function ensures minimum flow rate, guarding pumps against overheating and cavitation. The systems provide high pump stability with less vibration and fewer coupling or gear problems. TDL ARVs’ modulation bypass function also offers savings for operators with reduced energy consumption for frequent partial load operation.

Additionally, the bypass check valve prevents reverse pump flow, and allows for parallel pump installations.

Blackmer, part of PSG, a Dover company, has announces that its GNX Series Sliding Vane pumps are now available in 3-inch and 4-inch models.

The GNX Series pumps are alignment-free reduced-speed positive displacement pump and have been designed for the transfer of non-corrosive, non-abrasive industrial and petroleum products for both portable and stationary applications.

Originally launched in 2017 in 2-inch and 2.5-inch models, Blackmer GNX Series heavy-duty sliding vane pumps include the features of Blackmer legacy GX Series pumps but also incorporate a commercial-grade, single-stage gearbox, motor and baseplate.

The new gearbox fits between the motor and pump and is held in place by a permanent dowelled connection that creates a structural link between the high-speed and low-speed sides of the system. This results in a pump that will not need to be realigned either at initial installation or following maintenance. The 2-inch and 2.5-inch models have aluminum gearboxes and the new 3-inch and 4-inch models have cast iron gearboxes.

GNX Series pumps provide flow capacities ranging from 7 to 500 gpm (25 to 1,893 L/min) at working pressures up to 175 psi (12.1 bar).

Wanner Engineering has introduced the Hydra-Cell D66 Series seal-less positive displacement pumps for use in processing, OEM, municipal, and commercial applications.

The new Hydra-Cell pumps offer a maximum flow capacity of 65.7 gpm (248.7 l/min) and pressure ratings up to 700 psi (48 bar) for models featuring brass, ductile iron, or 316L stainless steel (metallic) pumps heads and 250 psi (17 bar) for models equipped with polypropylene (non-metallic) pump heads.

The company says that the seal-less design of Hydra-Cell D66 pumps means that there are no mechanical seals, cups, or packing to leak, wear, or replace. It has spring-loaded, horizontal disk check valves and the D66 seal-less design allows it to handle viscous fluids and abrasive particulates up to 800 microns in size. The D66 also features Wanner Engineering’s Kel-Cell technology so that in the event of a closed or clogged inlet condition, the D66 will run dry indefinitely without damage to the pump.

The new Hydra-Cell D66 is available with NPT or BSPT as well as SAE flanged NPT or BSPT ports and with a choice of pump head, valve, diaphragm, and o-ring materials.

Handling corrosive, toxic and flammable materials needs a special type of pump. When it was time for API manufacturer Ofichem to upgrade its pumping equipment, it found that Almatec® E-Series and CX Series AODD pumps proved the ideal solution.

The Dutch Ofichem Group BV is a developer, manufacturer and distributor of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for use in the global human and veterinary-medicine markets.

One of the most dangerous chemicals Ofichem handles is hydrochloric acid, which is highly corrosive and must be handled with extreme care. To that end, because of the toxic, corrosive and dangerous nature of many of the raw materials that Ofichem uses, safety for both site personnel and the environment is an overriding day-to-day concern.

In the large-scale production area, for example, as many as 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of solvents, acids or powders will be transferred in a single day, with various liquids also used to facilitate any number of chemical reactions.

Equipment upgrade In 2007, Ofichem was looking to upgrade the pumping equipment at the lab and contacted Gerrit Klaassen, commercial director of Holland Air Pumps, Oirschot, The Netherlands, for some recommendations.

“If you look at safety issues, our highly toxic products are kept in special areas, things like carcinogenics that cause cancer,” said Remco Vree Egberts, R&D manager and project leader for the Ofichem Group. “Also, if there happens to be a fire, we mandate that the area should be enclosed for at least 60 minutes.”

“For me, it was obvious that Ofichem needed a safe pump in this environment, one that has no leakage,” said Klaassen. “A plastic pump that is easily cleaned and has no corroding parts would be ideal for the application.” Handling corrosive, toxic and flammable materials is a fact of daily life at the Lab Ofichem facility, which is why it is critically important that the correct type of pump be identified and incorporated into the production process.

Wim Ekkelkamp is Ofichem’s technical manager and the man responsible for purchasing the pumps that are used in the Lab Ofichem production facility.

Ideal solutions As it happens, Holland Air Pumps is a distributor of air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps from Almatec®, Kamp-Lintfort, Germany. In analyzing Ofichem’s API-production setup, Klaassen determined that the Almatec E-Series and CX Series AODD Pumps would be the ideal solutions. E-Series and CX Series pumps are made of solid-block PE conductive material and rated for use in explosion-protected areas as they meet the ATEX requirements of European Directive 94/9/EG regarding the use of equipment or systems in potentially explosive atmospheres.

In terms of operation, these pumps are self-priming and dry-run capable, and possess the ability to empty containers completely. Air consumption and operating cost are optimized through the incorporation of the patented, maintenance-free PERSWING P® air-control system.

“Ofichem chose these pumps because they are reliable, they are very easy to clean, both on the outside and the inside, they are ATEX-certified, which is very important in our production areas, and they have very quiet operation; these are the reasons why we use the Almatec pumps,” said Ekkelkamp.

Low downtime “The thing is, quality is also important, because if you buy a cheaper pump but have downtime of one month every year, then the pump is not cheaper,” added Egberts. “With these pumps we have very low downtime and that’s the most important for us because if our production time is down one day we will lose at least €7,425. That’s why we choose pumps based on quality, not price.”

When the Ofichem Group decided that the time had come to introduce Good Manufacturing Practices to its API-production operation, it knew that this meant that each and every aspect of production would have to operate at the highest level of efficiency and safety.

“We have to keep production moving, we have to keep downtime as low as possible, and we have to be safe, so when we are purchasing any new equipment, the quality is very important,” Egberts said.

So choosing the proper pump technology became a top-of-mind concern for Ofichem’s daily handling many different types of hazardous, toxic, flammable and corrosive chemicals. Any concerns have been assuaged through the incorporation of Almatec AODD Pump technology in its chemical-handling applications.

“It’s very important that our pumps don’t break, that they have solid-block construction and that they don’t have any corrosion,” said Egberts. “If there is any corrosion in the pump, I can’t use it anymore.

We chose the Almatec pumps because they are capable of handling the products we are using. It’s a personal-safety issue — you don’t want any leaks, you don’t want people getting products on them. It’s also a product-safety issue, which in our business is very important. We have been using Almatec pumps for more than 11 years at this facility and we’ve never had a problem with them. We are really happy with them and will continue to use them in the future.”

ITT’s Goulds Pumps has added the IC Open (ICO) Impeller i-FRAME pump to its portfolio of ISO standard pumps.

Designed to handle chemical slurries and waste liquids and challenging food and beverage applications, the ICO augments the standard IC pump design with an open impeller for handling solids. This new feature means that the ICO is also able to deal with air- and gas-handling applications.

Available in 34 sizes and three different materials, ICO is built to ISO 2858 dimensions and meets ISO 5199 standards. In addition to the open impeller, the pump features flanges drilled to DIN/ISO or ANSI, plus a modular design of four bearing frames, which maximises interchangeability across its 34 sizes.

The pump can deal with flows up to 400 m3/hr and heads up to 150 m at temperatures ranging from -40ºC to +280ºC and has a cyclone seal chamber with improved heat removal plus a patented spiral groove design that removes solids from the sealing area.

Its heavy-duty i-FRAME Power Frame helps prevent pump bearing failures and there is also an i-ALERT 2 sensor for continuous machine health monitoring.