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Pumps submerged in leachate basin
Tsurumi KTZ pump
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Tsurumi pumps thrive in
toxic environments
Düsseldorf,
18.07.2007
Tsurumi pumps
are now operating in some of the most contaminated water treatment sites
in Europe and are proving highly successful at processing aggressive
leachates under extreme conditions.
One of the most
challenging applications for pump manufacturers is the processing of
leachates in industrial waste treatment centres. In Europe, the
by-products of industrial production processes, including waste metals,
chemicals, contaminated sludges and even nuclear waste, form giant
industrial waste mountains that have to be carefully treated before they
are safe enough to be sent to landfill. However, these toxic waste
mountains are not the only polluted substance that need attention at
dedicated treatment centres.
Rain water percolates through the industrial waste mountains while they
are stored and awaiting treatment, generating a toxic run-off liquid, or
leachate, that is every bit as polluted and dangerous as the original
waste pile. Typically, these liquids are channelled into vast holes dug
into the earth to form controlled basins. The 1999 European Directive
relating to the Dumping of Waste, sets out strict criteria for the
storage and processing of industrial leachates to ensure that the way
they are collected, handled and eventually dumped complies with
regulatory requirements.
For these reasons, leachate basins are lined with membranes to stop the
polluted water from penetrating the ground and entering the water table.
This solution creates large chemical baths that offer a highly
inhospitable environment for the pumps that are used to process the
liquid. The pumps selected have to be suspended 30cm above the membrane
so as to avoid suction on the membrane, which could cause a tear or a
hole. They must also be robust enough to need little or no maintenance
since regularly accessing pumps for repairs in such a hazardous
environment is understandably unpopular with treatment centre owners.
Alain du Petit Thouars, CEO of Tsurumi’s French dealer CE2A, has always
had the confidence that Tsurumi pumps were up to the challenge of
working with leachates. After the Pollutec Exhibition in Paris in 2001,
he put his faith to the test and offered to rent a Tsurumi pump to the
owner of France’s third largest company in the waste water treatment
industry. “We placed one of our KTZ 3.7kW pumps in a very difficult site
where the owner’s experience was that all other pumps had failed after
only one week,” explains M. du Petit Thouars. “After 6 months the
KTZ33.7 was still running so well that when I asked the owner what he
thought of it, he had forgotten it was even there.”
The company, a leader in the field with an annual turnover of €400M was
so impressed with the performance of that first Tsurumi pump that they
quickly decided to purchase more. They have now been a customer of
Tsurumi for over seven years and only use Tsurumi pumps over the whole
water treatment facility. Mr. Daniel Weippert, Managing Director of
Tsurumi (Europe) GmbH attributes the outstanding performance of the
Tsurumi pumps to the high-grade specifications used in the manufacturing
process: “The casing of the KTZ range of pumps is made from cast iron
rather than aluminium and the impellers are chromium cast iron, both of
which are far more resistant to corrosion, making them an ideal choice
for the particular stresses of leachate handling.”
Experience in France has shown that the KTZ pumps are particularly well
suited to alkaline leachate environments and that maintenance on Tsurumi
pumps at French CETs (centres d’enfouissements techniques or waste
product treatment centres) is typically very low. This is an important
consideration when operating in a toxic environment as minimal handling
is clearly the ideal.
Tsurumi pumps continue to hold the dominant position in the French
market with CE2A, who works with some of the leading names within the
waste water treatment industry including SITA and Veolia Water.
Ends.
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For further
information please contact:
Stefan Hörnschemeyer
Marketing Manager
Tsurumi (Europe) GmbH
Heltorfer Str. 14
40472 Düsseldorf
Germany
Tel: +49 211 417 9373
Fax: +49 211 479 1429
e-mail:
sales@tsurumi-europe.com
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