Chemical Technology April 2015

The Rietschle VC vacuum pump range Oil-lubricated rotary vane vacuum pumps designed and built by Rietschle are used in a wide variety of industrial applications. Rietschle offers the largest range of oil-flooded vacuum pumps for industrial coarse and fine vacuum operation. The VC range is based on three different designs. • Compact pumps with overhung bearing design. • Medium ranges with rotors supported on both sides, and flex- ible coupling. • Large pumps with rotors supported on both sides, plus flexible coupling and double walled cylinder. VC rotary vane vacuum pumps are air-cooled in the standard ver- sion. An oil-water cooler is available for high ambient temperatures or for heat recovery. The exhaust air is cleaned by a built-in mist filter with a very high separation efficiency ensuring oil free opera- tion in all working conditions. During service, the oil mist filter can be changed quickly via the maintenance cover, which is sealed by an O-ring, or for sizes 50-150 directly from the outside with a bayonet fitting. All pumps from 50m³/h up feature a gas ballast valve as stan- dard. This optimises the water vapour and when the pump reaches its operating temperature, any water vapour pumped passes through as a gas, without condensing. Standard features of the VC range are as follows: • Vanes made from a special alloy for long service life.

Elmo Rietschle rotary vane vacuum pump

Drying Dust extraction • Food processing

FOCUS ON PUMPS & VALVES

Bottling and filling machines Cutting machines

• Industrial applications Drying systems

Dust extraction systems Industrial furnaces Vacuum hold down Centralised vacuum systems Packaging machines Vacuum moulding

• Packaging industry

• Pneumatic conveying • Wood working industry

• Oil separator with permanent oil re-circulation. • Gas ballast valve from range 50m³/h upwards. • Oil mist filter with bayonet fixing (sizes 50-150). • Large maintenance cover from range 200 up. • Stainless steel mesh filter or paper filter. • Non-return valve. Typical VC applications include the following:- • Environmental engineering Aeration Integrated Pump Technology of South Africa has supplied 20 Bravo 900 submersible slurry pumps and 20 M20 control panels to Kamoto Copper Company (a subsidiary of Katanga Mining) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These heavy duty electri- cal submersible slurry pumps are the largest of their kind in the Grindex product family, says Klint Bawden, General Manager: Sales & Marketing, Integrated Pump Technology. Chris Heunes, Export Sales Manager, Integrated Pump Technology, explains that the company’s products are being deployed

Dust extraction systems Vacuum hold down

For more information about the Rietschle VC vacuum pump range, contact Mark Burn, managing director, Air & Vacuum Technologies, on tel: 0861 VACTEC (822 832) or +27 11 318 3240, email burnm@ vactech.co.za, or go to www.vactech.co.za z

Twenty Bravo 900 submersible slurry pumps for Kamoto Copper Co in the DRC

costly downtime and repair costs,” Bawden explains. “The Bravo range from Grindex is robust and hard working enough to result in reduced operating and maintenance costs.” These pumps, with a maximum submersible depth of 20 m, do not require any support superstructure, which makes for quick and easy installation and less space needed for their operation. For more information contact Klint Bawden on tel: +27 076 840 6527, email klint@pump- technology.com, or go to pump-technology. com z

at three different areas of Katanga Mining’s operations in the DRC. These are the Luilu Metallurgical Plant, the Kamoto Concentrator (KTC) and KOV Open Pit Mine (KOV). Heunes says that EC Mining has been formally ap- pointed as the distributor for Integrated Pump Technology for the DRC and is in the process of establishing a fully-fledged service and repair workshop at Kamoto Copper Company to cater for its aftermarket needs. “Pumping slurry is one of the most de- manding applications for any pump, due to such issues as sediment build-up leading to

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Chemical Technology • April 2015