The Viridor Recycling & Renewable Energy Centre in Glasgow is a flag-ship AD plant. This site had four rotatory lobe pumps handling the food waste produced by this large conurbation. The suitability of the pumps to the application and reasonable purchase price made them attractive to the site operators.

Because digestate is very gritty and therefore an abrasive material to transport, the internal lobes and casing eroded rapidly, which led to a rapid reduction in efficiency. The result was that the lobes had to be replaced regularly, and as these are very expensive, this became a major headache for the site operators.

The reduction in efficiency also meant that the promised energy saving did not materialize. Additionally, the pumps, which are essential to the running of the plant, were out of action during the replacement process. This led to significant downtime for the plant, and all the costs and lost production this brings.

Less wear, more operating time

The site contacted Atlantic Pumps, an Intrax company, and they recommended SlurryPro centrifugal slurry pumps. Specifying pumps with high-chrome wear parts, an open 2-vane impeller, and a double mechanical seal, SlurryPro pumps allowed to handle the abrasive fluids for long periods of time with very little erosion to the working parts of the pump.

The site replaced the lobe pumps with four 6x4 SlurryPro pumps. After many months of constant operation, the pumps continued to happily provide the required adequate pressure and flow. More importantly, the internal wear parts were still in good condition. This meant that there had been a dramatic reduction in both downtime and in the cost of spares.

If you require any further information regarding this case, call 0800 118 2500 or email Atlantic Pumps at [email protected]