Pump Tour: Pumps & Systems Visits Xylem, Inc.

Pumps & Systems magazine enjoyed the opportunity to tour Xylem’s research & development (R&D) facility in Stockholm, Sweden and its factory in Emmaboda, southern Sweden, where the company’s latest technology was demonstrated. Xylem began as a small local smithy in Emmaboda in 1901. Today, about 98 percent of production from that plant is exported around the world to solve local water challenges, and Xylem has grown into a global corporation that focuses on the world’s water needs. At 330,000 square meters, manufacturing pumps up to four meters in size, the scale, automation and technological capability of the Emmaboda facility is state-of-the-art. The company says it is Europe’s most advanced foundry for casting complex geometic shapes. Tomas Brannemo, Senior Vice President and President Xylem EMEA said, “Xylem spans the entire cycle of water. Our involvement in the water cycle can be broken down into two parts – water infrastructure and applied water. When we talk about water infrastructure – which encompasses 60 percent of our business – we are talking about helping customers collect water from a source and distribute it to users, and then helping them clean wastewater and return it to the environment. This involves three closely linked applications – transport, treatment and testing – for two types of customers: public utilities and industrial facilities.”

“When we refer to applied water – which accounts for the other 40 percent of our business – we are focused on all the applications – or uses – of water in our daily lives. The customers here come to us for solutions in three major categories: residential and commercial building service applications, industrial applications, and irrigation and agriculture applications. Having a huge footprint throughout the water cycle gives us a balanced portfolio and presents opportunities for us to create solutions for customers no matter where they are in this loop,” continued Brannemo. Emmaboda coordinates assembly control plans and supports all facilities with performance testing and industrial engineering. In addition, testing is held on-site for customers. The majority of orders from the Emmaboda plant – 86 percent – are engineered to order to meet specific customer needs. During the pump tour, visitors learned about this customization, and Xylem representatives made presentations on product development, dewatering technology, product development in mixing technology and wastewater pumping. The company works hard to continually innovate and create solutions to water challenges. Christian Wiklund, product development director for Flygt, delivered a presentation on specific product developments by Xylem. According to the presentation, Xylem is the holder of 700 patents in 60 patent families with 8 new patent families per year. Wiklund said, “As a result of our continuous flow of innovations over the years we have set the benchmark in the industry, enabling us to be the market leader within wastewater pumping, drainage pumping and mixing.” Caroline Tallqvist, product development manager, drainage pumps, presented information on the latest in dewatering. “Xylem created the first submersible drainage pump in the world in 1947,” said Tallqvist, “and the company is still a pioneer in this industry. Current dewatering products serve the construction and tunneling, mining and quarrying, industrial, municipal, marine, and oil and gas industries.” Tallqvist said, “Wear resistance is one of the most important aspects of a drainage pump. In order to validate wear performance, test pumps run in the tanks for hundreds of hours. The tests are accelerated and at least twice as tough as the reality in order to spot early signs of design weaknesses. In recent dewatering product development, we completed more than 36,000 hours of wear testing - a total of 320,000 tons of sand passed through the test pumps – enough to fill 213, 1500 ton barges! For us, testing and validation is a very important part of product development. We know that durability does not happen by coincidence.” Mixing was also a topic during the pump tour. Ulf Carlsson, product development manager, said Xylem introduced the submersible mixer concept and is now the world’s largest supplier of submersible mixers. More than 250,000 units have been installed globally. The largest industrial applications for mixers are within biogas production, where mixers are used in large digesters. Another industrial application is when mixers are used as fish attractors – saving juvenile fish from being killed by water turbines in rivers. The new 4530 Flygt propeller that maximizes hydraulic efficiency has been praised by customers. “We’ve seen conservative energy savings of 50 percent – but I believe the figure could be higher,” said Enrico Merende, technical director at the Alpi Acque Wastewater Treatment Plant in Italy. “This means our return on investment will be even sooner than expected.” We also learned about the latest in wastewater pumping. Henrik Jacobsson, manager of product development, wastewater pumps, discussed challenges facing that industry, including increasing governmental regulations, tighter spending controls, population migration to urban areas and new weather patterns caused by climate change. Xylem is facing these challenges by helping customers with minimized operational costs and effective asset management. One of the biggest issues for wastewater pumps is clogging. New patented technology in this area improves reliability and reduces unplanned service call outs. Jacobsson said, “Even though we have excellent pumps that have high clogging resistance, solids and grease will come into the station and eventually even the best of pumps may be challenged. So, in order to address that we developed SmartRun, a pre-programmed, easy to install ‘monitoring & control’ device that monitors what happens in the pump and the sump. It registers the performance of the pump, and if solids builds up it will automatically clean the pump, sump and pipes to make sure the level of solids are always kept as low as possible. By monitoring the pumps performance it will also automatically adapt the pump speed in order to always run as energy efficiently as possible. This is based on a patented algorithm that delivers energy saving of typically 30 percent.” Amid all these new developments, Xylem has been recognized globally as a leader in sustainability. Hammarby Sjostadsverk, is a a pilot wastewater plant in Stockholm where scientists work to develop sustainable solutions for recycling water. At Hammarby Xylem field tests treatment systems incorporating primary, secondary and tertiary disinfection and advanced oxidation processes (AOP). Last year, Xylem’s Borehole Thermal Energy Storage project, where energy generated at the Emmaboda facility is stored underground and then re-used in the factory was nominated by the Swedish government to compete for the European Union’s Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2014. While Xylem focuses on product development, it also actively supports personnel development. The company collaborates with the Teknik College industrial school and partners in a three-year industrial/technology high school program with the local Emmaboda schools which benefits the industry and young people alike. VIDEO Pumps & Systems was able to see a demonstration live during the visit. You can watch the company’s video demonstration here. OTHER VIDEO Xylem tests pumps before delivery to customers onsite. See how here.