Duplex stainless steel pumps manufacturer expands internationally

South Africa-based slurry pumps manufacturer Hazleton Pumps last month received an order valued at R5-million to manufacture the largest vertical spindle pump ever produced or built in the country. It will be used to pump 2 700 m3/h of phosphoric acid containing solids at a head of 40 m and will be fitted with a 400 kW, six-pole, 3.3 kV motor for a phosphate plant in Israel.

Pump components will be made using Sanicro 28 – an alloy multipurpose austenitic stainless steel that can withstand corrosion from oxidation.

The vertical spindle pump, manufactured from duplex stainless steel materials, is expected to be completed by April 2017, says Hazleton Pumps director Maureen Wehmeyer.

She points out that the grade 904L stainless steel material will be used for the castings and for each of the components that will be manufactured.

Grade 904L stainless steel is a nonstabilised austenitic stainless steel with low carbon content. It contains high alloy stainless steel and copper to improve its resistance against strong reducing acids such as sulphuric acid.

“There are components that do not have castings and are manufactured from 904L stainless steel, owing to the high nickel content of the materials,” she highlights.

Wehmeyer says the vertical spindle pump is designed with a double-suction intake and a double discharge, which enables high volume handling of phosphoric acid containing solids.

Meanwhile, she says that research for the vertical spindle pumps started in 2000 with ongoing research and development aiming to continuously improve on the pumps and products designed and developed.

Wehmeyer says that, in the past year, Hazleton Pumps “conquered a new market” by exporting another vertical spindle pump, the HIPPO 150L VBC, which had been designed, developed and manufactured in South Africa using Sanicro 28, to Israel’s integrated multinational phosphates group Rotem Amfert Negev.

“The experience Hazleton Pumps gained over the years in supplying local and international phosphate mines with vertical spindle pumps has proven invaluable,” she says.

Hazleton Pumps is a 2016 Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association Awards finalist and has been involved with the design, development and manufacture of slurry pumps since 1979.

The slurry pumps are specifically designed to pump corrosive liquids by using specific and specialised materials such as Duplex stainless steel. The HIPPO slurry pump range and the technology have been developed and adapted for mining and various other applications globally.