SPX Beats A Progressive Cavity Pump In Abrasive Clay Applications

A paper mill in East Millinocket, ME that manufactures 290,000 tons of newsprint, directory paper and groundwood specialties per year was tired of having their progressive cavity (PC) pumps fail. They found that the high solids content of their clay filler was eating their progressive cavity pumps alive. The existing PC pumps in the plant were having difficulty pumping Precipitated Calcium Carbonate & Clay Filler, (40-50% solids).

This product is extremely abrasive and would open up the rotor/stator clearances in the PC pumps. This resulted in huge repair costs, frequent failure rates, costly downtime, inaccurate metering, and product loss due to seal leakage. A Watson-Marlow SPX40 hose pump was put into service for 18 months to prove our superiority in this aggressive application. Since our pumps have no seals to leak, no product contact on the rotor and only one hose to replace at predictable intervals, the trial pump handled the abrasive clay with ease.

After the trial was complete, several PC pumps were replaced by VFD controlled SPX40 pumps. The successful integration of the SPX40 pumps has prompted the plant to replace other PC pumps in abrasive, high solids applications.

More information on Bredel SPX hose pumps.