Albin Tube Pumps from Kelair Pumps Australia

Case Study
Sales Engineer Michael Charnley (WA)

Albin tube pumps selected for arduous duties

Kelair was approached by a consulting engineering firm to select pumps for a pilot plant required for nickel production. Services would be as arduous as full scale process but with very low flow rates.

The process stream involved seventeen services, almost all slurry applications. Six applications contained nitric acid, the highest concentration being 60%, and temperatures ranging from 20-110°C. Flow rates ranged from 0.05 to 0.83m3hr.

Variable speed drives would be applied to change flow rates as required by the process.

Kelair's engineers quickly settled on Albin peristaltic pumps as the best option to manage the slurry component of the process.

Fortunately the discharge pressures were relatively low, less than 4bar which allowed us to select pumps from the Albin ALP range of tube pumps.

This was important because the other difficult challenge was chemical compatibility with the tube material.

Albin tube pumps are primarily used in chemical applications and so a wide range of materials were available.

After consulting with the factory, Tygoprene tubing was selected for all pumps (to allow for interchangeability). Pump connections were machined from PVDF.

Four different size pumps were selected, using 9mm, 13mm, 17mm and 25mm tubes. The small differences in flow rate were taken up in gearbox selection.

Such arduous duties would require tube change outs so serviceability was important. Unlike the heavier duty hose pumps, the ALP tube pumps use rollers in a dry pump housing to squeeze liquid through the tube.

This allows for very simple tube replacement which only requires the removal of a cover plate via two fasteners to access and remove the tube.

The Albin tube pumps provided a very cost effective solution to several challenges.