In Nampa, Idaho the ABEL EM electric-diaphragm pump reduces cost & maintenance at the primary clarifier

The City of Nampa is about 20 minutes west of Boise, Idaho on interstate 84.  With a population of over 80,000 it is the largest and fastest growing city in Canyon County.  Together with Boise, the area comprises the largest metropolitan area in Idaho with some 540,000 residents.  The J.R. Simplot potato processing works is located nearby. 

Nampa’s waste water treatment plant serves Nampa and surrounding areas.  The plant had been using lobe style positive displacement pumps to transfer thickened sludge from the primary clarifier underflow to further waste stream processing.  These pumps had been a source of excessive maintenance.  The lobes rotate within close tolerance with each other promoting wear and thus requiring maintenance on a monthly basis. 
The primary clarifier project engineered by MWH in Boise, included a new primary clarifier and a remodel of the primary sludge pumping station. Along with this upgrade, the plant’s lobe pumps were considered for replacement.

MWH had previous experience with ABEL Pumps in the design and utilization of the ABEL model EM electric-diaphragm pumps at the Weber Waste Water Treatment Plant in Ogden, Utah and the Colorado Springs Waste Water Treatment Plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Based on this history, MWH selected three ABEL EM 100 electric-diaphragm pumps to replace the lobe pumps at Nampa.

Each ABEL model EM 100 pump is capable of pumping some 275 GPM at pressures up to 90 psi.  The EM pumps can also run dry and have no close-tolerance moving metal parts that are expensive to replace.  Instead, the wear on the EM is limited to replacement parts consisting only of balls and seats in the suction and discharge valve housings, and diaphragms.  No seals exist on the EM, so process fluids cannot escape the confinement of the pump and piping system.

A grinder pump precedes each of these EM 100s.  As a result, maintenance downtime and cost has greatly improved with their ABEL EM 100s.

The Abel EM series of pumps is available in 7 sizes with capacities ranging form 15 GPM to 275 GPM.  The pump is applied for pressures up to 90 psi.  Wet end materials include cast iron, stainless steel, and plastics.  Elastomeric materials are available in Buna-N, Viton, EPDM, and Teflon.  Stroke rates vary with each model but range from 70 to 150 maximum strokes per minute. 

The ABEL Pump solution at a Corrugated Cardboard facility

Today, corrugated cardboard packaging is seen everywhere. However, even though this product has been around for over 100 years, few know how complex the production process can be and how varied the product is depending on configuration and structure.

Klingele Papierwerke has been producing raw paper for corrugated cardboard in two different locations in France and Germany, for more than 50 years. These raw papers are the basis for producing packaging and corrugated cardboard products.

The factory produces corrugated boxes, die-cut packaging and folding boxes in various shapes and sizes.

Corrugated cardboard is light and at the same time stable. The secret – as the name indicates – are the corrugations that lend the cardboard very high stability. At the same time, the air-filled chambers created by the corrugations ensure its unique cushioning function.

The product is produced by combining different layers of paper by means of starch glue. 

Fluted sheets and flat liner boards are glued to each other in several layers, so that the final result is a single, dual, or triple wall corrugated cardboard.

The core manufacturing piece is the flute lamination machine. This very long machine consists of several individual units which are separately and independently controlled. Inside the machine, individual layers of paper are heated, moistened, laminated and then dried. Afterwards the desired format is cut to size.

An important component in manufacturing corrugated cardboard is the glue that is used. Klingele uses glue that is based on natural starch. Electric-diaphragm pumps made by ABEL (model EM) are used to transport the glue at a temperature of 35-40°C to and from the flute lamination machine as well as for continuous circulation.

These pumps are electrically driven, double-diaphragm pumps with mechanical membrane deflection. Unlike the previously used compressed air operated diaphragm pumps, the EM generates considerably less noise; the irritating ventilating noisewhen the control valve is triggered does not occur. 

In addition, the energy savings is impressive due to the pumps high efficiency…consuming a fraction of the energy required by air operated pumps.
Cost savings are  especially significant during continuous operation.  Energyconservation was one of the main reasons Klingele selected these pumps.

All installed pumps are controlled with a variable frequency drive (VFD).
Being true positive displacement pumps, EM pumps are very tolerant of changing degrees of viscosity which is common with starch glue and therefore can deliver reliable and consistent flow independent of counter-pressure.

The first ABEL EM pump was delivered and commissioned in the summer of 2011.  Since then, another 7 identical EM pumps have been added.

All of the glue pumps in the corrugated cardboard factory in Werne have been completely switched from compressed air drive to EM electric-diaphragm pumps.  The EM pumps provide reliability, efficiency and low operating costs to our customer. 

That’s the ABEL difference.