Black Liquor
‘Black Liquor’ is a common by-product of pulp manufacturing in the paper industry. The paper industry sells this black liquor to chemical processing plants for further processing into a variety of products, and a European chemical plant that processes black liquor has benefited tremendously from using Hydra-Cell pumps.
The chemical company produces resins and fatty acids from the black liquor it receives from the paper industry. Two difficult-to-pump by-products of this production are turpentine and pitch oil. The turpentine is pumped into burner units to provide heat on-site. The pitch oil is sold back to the paper mills.
Neither turpentine nor pitch oil is a good lubricant. Their extremely low lubricity makes them difficult to handle and presents a challenge for any pumping system. The piston-type pumps originally used at this plant frequently broke down on this duty through severe wear. According to the company’s engineers, the piston pumps were unreliable, costly and being re-built 5-10 times per year.
When the Hydra-Cell distributor visited the plant to try to find a solution, he agreed with the company about the low lubricity of the fluids and also noted that the pitch oil had a significant ash content of 0.4% which would eventually intensify the wear problem. Our distributor immediately recognized the shortcomings of the piston pumps and recommended the seal-less G-25 Hydra-Cell pump for both fluids.
The design of the G-25 pump allows frictionless operation and enables all parts in contact with the process fluid to work without lubrication. A three-month trial on the initial turpentine burner (complete with heat traced lines) went so well that three more Hydra-Cell pumps were quickly fitted on other burners and another was installed on the pitch oil line.
All pumps easily paid for themselves within the first year. Four years later, all units are still working reliably without a single pump breakdown on any of the lines. The changeover has proven to be such a success that Hydra-Cell pumps have been included on every new production line.
Model: G-25
Flow: Variable to 69 l/m (18 gpm)
Pressure: Variable to 69 bar (1000 psi)