Product category:
Metals and Minerals Processing News
News Release from: Watson-Marlow Bredel Pumps | Subject: Buxton Lime
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 April 2008
Waste clay slurry pumps help cement
plant results
Peristaltic pumps were selected to transfer the paste underflow from clay washings thickeners to the cement plant at Buxton Lime Industries (BLI) in Buxton, and have not needed maintenance for 3 years
Buxton Lime Industries (BLI), a Tarmac company, officially opened its new cement plant in Buxton, UK, in November 2004 At a cost of GBP110million this was a substantial investment but the state-of-the-art facility more than doubled the BLI cement manufacturing capacity and presented opportunities for the company to enter new markets
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 10 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Free pump trials for the food processing industry
Peristaltic pumps offer many advantages to the food processing industry: a Free Pump Trial is offered by Watson-Marlow to test our peristaltic pump performance on your plant, in your application
Peristaltic pumps simplify moving apple pie mix
The introduction of hose pumps to an apple pie mixing and food processing plant has made production faster and completely eliminated the need for seals, valves and manual handling of products
Annual output is in the region of 800,000 tonnes of packed and bulk Portland cement and masonry cement.
The cement plant at BLI converts the waste clay washings from the stone processing plant into cement.
The original plant was built in 1966 and, after more than thirty years operation was replaced with a new plant utilising the best available technology for cement production.
Further reading
Peristaltic pumping of whole egg yolks
A hygienic peristaltic pump is being used to pump whole egg yolks and whites through a chilling process before despatch to food manufacturers who make extra-thick omelettes that accompany sushi
Peristaltic pump framework agreement with YWS
Watson-Marlow Bredel has won a five year framework agreement (with a two year option) for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of peristaltic pumps to Yorkshire Water Services (YWS)
Winning pumps for chemical dosing applications
Watson-Marlow Bredel peristaltic pumps are the simplest of all chemical dosing pumps, with no complex commissioning programmes and additional check valves or hardware requirements
The utilisation of the waste clay washings in the new cement plant was a critical part of the plant design.
The original plant used a conventional thickener to increase the solids content of the clay washings from ~5% w/w to 40% w/w.
The thickened slurry was then fed to the old cement plant.
The new plant design replaced the conventional thickener with two 15m diameter Eimco Deep Cone Paste thickeners (DCT).
The special design features of the new Eimco DCTs means that they were able to thicken the clay washings from ~5% w/w to 60% w/w.
At these high solids concentrations the thickener underflow has special rheological properties which must be taken into consideration when designing the pumping system.
Peristaltic pumps were selected to transfer the paste underflow from the DCTs to the cement plant because the wide range of flows required combined with the accurate control that could be achieved with variable speed peristaltic pumps.
Unlike alternative technologies, peristaltic pumping can readily handle viscous, lumpy, or abrasive fluids, or those containing solids or particulates.
In addition, highly aggressive or corrosive fluids can be pumped - with only the flexible hose coming into contact with the process fluid.
Further benefits of peristaltic pumps include the ability to self-prime and the way in which they can be cleaned by back-flushing.
Peristaltic pumps can easily be incorporated within a control system for metering or dosing applications, with excellent repeatability achievable.
A total of four Watson-Marlow Bredel SPX100 Duplex peristaltic pumps are installed in the Buxton plant, with each of the two Eimco DCTs served by a pair of pumps in a configuration designed to allow discharge from each thickener and simultaneous transfer between DCTs if necessary, guaranteeing plant availability in the event of a pipe blockage or pump failure.
Each compact pump unit has an electric motor driving twin pumpheads that share common suction and discharge manifolds having 6in and 4in ANSI flanges respectively.
In the Buxton plant, all four pumps are connected to a common discharge manifold.
Under normal operation, the pumps deliver from the thickener at a rate of 27 tonnes per hour, and the double duplex pumps give a smooth, pulsation-free flow.
The ability to pump high solids concentration paste from the Eimco DCTs to the cement plant has had significant benefits to the cement making process at BLI.
The higher solids concentration has improved the thermal efficiency of the cement-making process by 40%, and helped to reduce the particulate emissions by 70%, sulphur dioxide by 60% and nitrogen oxides by 9%.
Nev Mosley, the Operations Manager at the plant, comments: "The thickener underflow is not the easiest fluid to handle, but peristaltic pumping is the best technology without a doubt.
Watson-Marlow pumps have proved to be extremely reliable and the pumps are operating around the clock as a vital element of the production process.
We have not needed to change the flexible hoses in the pumps since September 2005, despite the pumps running continuously 24 hours per day".
When the plant first commenced production, the innovative design meant that a certain amount of fine-tuning was necessary in order to optimise the process.
Nev Mosley states: "The Watson-Marlow engineers were extremely helpful when we approached them with a query.
They were very responsive and their experience and expertise enabled them to make recommendations that we were able to implement successfully".
For more information about the SPX100 Duplex peristaltic pumps, please contact Watson-Marlow Bredel direct, or visit the website. Request a free brochure from Watson-Marlow Bredel Pumps ...
• Watson-Marlow Bredel Pumps: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Processingtalk email newsletter
• Processingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
