The UK firm Siltbuster reports that a number of recent tough applications have seen its preferred Bredel hose pumps tested to the full. Pumping kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) and transferring crude oil are among the extreme tasks that Siltbuster has recently encountered.
Since the launch of the original Siltbuster unit in May 2003, the company has become the UK’s leading authority on water treatment, wet waste and the prevention of waterborne pollution from construction and industrial sites. Among the 40-employee 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,” explains 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 also recall a couple of recent applications where the product being pumped tested Bredel’s hose pump 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 keiselguhr amongst other difficult media in the sludge. 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 says.
In applications such as these, the selection of hose elements is critical to ensure 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.
