Demands on suppliers of dewatering pumps are bringing significant developments, not least improvements in whole-life costs for quarry operators
The past year has been a very busy one for leading manufacturers of pumping equipment for the aggregates sector. New products have been developed and launched, with significant effort put into furthering after-sales and overall service offers for customers
As product ranges widen and pump performance develops, quarry operators can also benefit from equipment suppliers' endeavours to gain a competitive edge by lowering long-term costs
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To improve on the latter, "Toyo is developing its overall service offer, from pump selection and application advice, through to training and field support and a worldwide professional distribution network," says de Grand Ry
Toyo has developed its existing products and added new models to extend its ranges of pumps for different applications, but de Grand Ry places emphasis on the importance of decreasing cost of ownership
He says the company is supplying ever more powerful pumping designs to meet new technical challenges, and smaller pumps for compactness, efficiency and attractive prices, but turnkey solutions are being proposed for best overall long term value
"We will continue to offer efficient solutions in submersible heavy slurry pumping, to make our technology available for the largest number of customers, and we will increase additional value through technical support and services," de Grand Ry says
In similar fashion, durability and minimum cost of maintenance are key to Tsurumi Pumps' business offer for overall value
"Customers are demanding ever longer life and reduced maintenance cost. With issues of wear and tear so crucial in the tough conditions of quarry dewatering, we have focused on developing greater durability and making Tsurumi pumps easy to maintain with simple disassembly without specialist tools," says Tsurumi's European production manager Stefan Himmelsbach
Tsurumi's LH and LHW series of submersible pumps have been developed for handling the high heads and pumping volumes of quarrying applications
According to Himmelsbach, the best of this technology includes double mechanical seals inside fuel chambers to prevent contact between pumping medium and oil chamber seals, thereby prolonging the life of the critical seals
"Tsurumi pumps are known for their strength and durability under tough conditions," adds
"As the search for natural resources goes deeper, we must adapt to ensure our product range evolves with the market," says Tsurumi Europe marketing manager Stefan
"These highly versatile pumps can move sediment-filled water from a construction site, pump light slurry in an aggregate washing process or remove water and drilling mud mixtures from the face of tunnel boring machines. And because the hydraulics of the sludge and drainage pumps are interchangeable, customers can adapt one 2600 pump to handle many different applications," says ITT's product manager for Flygt drainage pumps Peter Hansen
ITT's latest products launch comes a year after the company acquired
"The Godwin and Flygt marriage is a good one, offering a full range of pumping solutions to our customers," says ITT Water & Wastewater communications manager for dewatering Bryan Gassler
ITT now claims to have the widest portfolio of dewatering pumps on the market, catering for customers' different preferences, some of which are purely due to historical reasons, says ITT's marketing manager for dewatering services Stefan Swartling
"Some prefer the electrical Flygt units for their compactness and the fact that they can be left working without risk of damage if an area floods," Swartling says. "Others favour diesel-driven pumps because with no other power source attached they can be moved around and set up on floats easily. It is beneficial for us to offer both types. With different advantages to each, it is important to assess the needs of each installation individually." A strong trend in general, across all of ITT's dewatering services, is a sharpening focus on overall costs to increase competitiveness
Swartling says: "We can assist with services to reduce downtime and cost of ownership. ITT is known to have some of the industry's most reliable equipment and a good reputation for service and supply of spare parts. We are building on this. Through discussions with clients, we are keen to find out how they operate. If a customer is in a remote area, we are striving to have operation support nearby. If they run 24-hour shifts, maybe they would benefit from larger fuel tanks. The overall aim is peace of mind with dewatering operations." Much of ITT's R&D effort has focused on "quality of product" in recent years and on making existing products more hydraulically efficient and reliable, says Swartling
"If a pump breaks down, then that is not efficient for operations and incurs costs. For greater durability we have focused on improving specific parts, such as coated hard iron impellers to give a more durable product," Gassler says
These efforts have become manifest in ITT's new series of Flygt 2600 sludge pumps
The 'wear-resistant' design has an enlarged inlet and pump volute to allow handling of heavy concentrations of solids plus the company's 'Hard Iron' vortex impeller, polyurethane-lined pump housing and side discharge. Furthermore, the three new models feature the same terminal board now fitted to all Flygt pumps. This seals the pump's junction box from the motor, preventing water from passing between compartments and reducing repair costs
Matec specialises in the design and development of waste water purification and filtration plants for various industries, listing aggregates, gravel, sand, stone, ceramics and glass as the most important
In its purification process, water from the washing of aggregates or other processes is taken to a wastewater collection tank from where a vertical or submersible pump sends water to static decanters. After a variety of treatments, slurry is fed into a thick steel filter press (carefully tested and able to work with high-pressure pumps up to 20 bar) where it is dehydrated up to 80% into compact cakes, thus reducing handling costs by 50-70%. These can be stacked, and when the filter opens they fall and pack up in special containment walls or in the truck bodies, ready for disposal
Clarified water recovered from the filter press is taken to the wastewater wells to be clarified all over again
"Filter-pressed slurry can be flown back into the quarry or used as prescribed by the Ministry. Ninety per cent of the water is perfectly clarified and reused: only the portion that has evaporated or is contained in the feedstock is replenished. This reduces the operating costs," says the Italian company
The company says that in the last two years it has installed over 150 purification plants worldwide covering capacities from 1-100tonnes/hour
It is also introducing its plate and frame press technology worldwide
"In dewatering very fine solids (-325 mesh) from wash water, the press dehydrates sludge by squeezing the water out (recovering 90-95% of the water) and forming easy-to-handle solid dry cakes that can be transported via conveyor belt," says Matec, which uses cutting-edge software to produce its filter presses that are equipped with safety devices
"Using special transportable filter-presses purposely designed, Matec is able to test every kind of sludge both in laboratory and directly at the customer's site, in order to determine the exact filtration specifications." Matec points out that its plants are typically installed after a thickener and can be used to replace existing belt filter presses, and they work with double and triple-body pumps, while they "eliminate settling ponds; are fully automatic with PLC control, and do not require a full-time operator."
