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March 2017
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MechChem Africa
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9
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Pump systems, pipes, valves and seals
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Above:
One of a batch of SAMCO HM 316
stainless steel pumps awaiting delivery. Originally
developed for light slurries, these pumps have
also been adapted for use in chemical process
applications.
Above right:
A SAMCO pump in the final stages of
assembly in the company’s Boksburg premises.
Right:
Components such as impellers, volutes,
wear plates and bearing frames are all locally
manufactured in the material or alloy that best
suits the actual application.
pumping solutions
Stainless costs? “In comparison to operat-
ing costs, the capital costs of pumps on these
plants are relatively small. So they are often
seen as consumable items. Our pumps offer
much better uptime and longer life, so they
cost the plant much less over time.
“We can also reuse a stainless bearing
frame and volute casing several times over.
We use a spacer coupling between the pump
and themotor. Once the coupling is removed,
the pump shaft, impeller, seals and wear
plates can be pulled out without affecting
the motor alignment. The bearings, seals,
impeller, wear plates and bushes can then be
replaced before refitting and re-coupling the
refurbished pump to the motor,” he says add-
ing: “this is known in the industry as a ‘back
pull-out design’.
“So if a pump needs a refurbishment in
NorthernZambiaor theDRC, for example, we
can simply send up the appropriate SAMCO
wet-end kit and the local pump fitters can do
the rest,” he says.
“Over the past 30 years, SAMEngineering
has soldover 20000pumpunits into industry
and our current SAMCO range comprises 13
different models, 137 different sizes in 11
different iron, steel and alloy material com-
binations,” Lubbe notes.
SAMCO Pumps can produce up to
5 000 m
3
/h of flow and maximum heads of up
to200mandthebiggestthecompanyhasever
manufactured is driven by an 800 kWmotor.
“All our pumps are made to order.
Depending on the alloys chosen, we quote
four to six week delivery times for readily
available combinations, but thismight stretch
to 14 weeks if the materials, alloys and heat
treatments are more difficult,” he notes.
Froma localisationperspective, all casting,
machining, inspection, assembly and painting
tasks are completed locally,” Lubbe says.
Current successes? “Our stock in trade
is process pumps for food processing, pulp
and paper, minerals processing and fertiliser
industries. But it is our business in the cop-
per/cobalt processing industry north of our
borders that is very strong at the moment,”
Lubbe responds.
“Acids are widely used in copper process-
ing to reduce ores from the mines: in the
solvent extraction plants; to break down
the waste through the leaching process; and
in the electro winning process itself, which
produces the copper sheeting,” he explains.
To improve the efficiency of the copper
extraction process, the pregnant liquor solu-
tionispumpedfromtheheapleachingprocess
to the solvents extraction and electrowinning
plant, where copper cathodes are formed and
the spent liquor is pumped back to the heap
for further refining.
“Currently, this business is keeping us
going – and the copper price indications are
looking positive, so things are looking up for
us,” he says.
“Any pumps purchased from SAM
Engineering or SAMCO Pumps, no matter
which original brand name is on the name
plate, canbe serviced, refurbishedor replaced
with parts currently manufactured by SAM
Engineering,”Lubbeconcludes.“Standardising
on the SAMCOPumpbrand avoids incompat-
ibility issues and reduces the risks of spares
or pump models becoming unsupported in
the future.”
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