×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps
2

Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

(OP)
I am working on a project requiring pumps to transfer oily water to an oil water separator. What pump type provides the least amount of emulsification? Low RPM positive displacement seems ideal, but I'd like to get some feedback from people familiar with similar applications.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

Pumping of wastewater with oil and grease is usually accomplished with low speed, low shear centrifugal pumps. These pumps operate at designed for lower speeds, 750 rpm is typical. Screw pumps made by Hidrostal, Leistritz and others work very well. Low speed postive displacement pumps such as progressive cavity pumps may also work.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

You can think about Discflo, this pump is realy good for shear sensitive fluid. In the past I had this problem and only DISCFLO solve my problem.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

jardelviana,

Thanks for the tip on DiscFlo pumps. It was initially counterintuitive (for me) to think of the DiscFlo pump as a low shear pump, but maybe it's exactly what I need in an application I have here at work. I need a treater feed pump to do about 40 m^3/hr @ 60 m head, pumping a 3:1 emulsion with water and 21-API oil. Up until now I have been thinking of a progressive cavity pump. I'll look into DiscFlo some more.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

Goulds Pumps also make an AF (Axial Flow pump) is it low speed and Nss (pretty much a propeller). I have worked with them for emulsifications and chelants/chelator both of which a shear sensitive.

These pumps were used as "mixers"/"circulators". They are cost competitve, engineered and can be quick turnover pieces of equipment.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

As long as your flow is not too high (say over 100-200gpm), a Progressive Cavity is the best pump for non-shearing, and will easily handle any entrained solids w/o wear concerns. Look at Moyno, Netzsch, Monoflo, e.g.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

(OP)
I am looking at the 400-600 gpm range. A previous project used a rotary lobe pump at about 250 rpm for this flow range. An article I uncovered online indicated that disc pumps performed the best in terms of preventing emulsification. Seems like everyone has their own flavor for this.

RE: Preventing Emulsification - Best Pumps

You seem to have skipped over the screw pump. Most skimmers use screw pumps because the pumps will not form an emulsion, are tolerant of debris, do not require priming, and will handle viscous oil.

The screw / centrifugal impeller with its open channel impeller design combines the gentle action of a screw pump and the high flow rates and cost efficiencies of a centrifugal pump.

http://www.environmental-expert.com/products/trito...

http://www.hidrostal.co.uk/default.aspx?p=screwce

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources