Product waste in hygienic manufacturing industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics has long been accepted as an unavoidable cost of doing business. The problem is that flushing or draining raw ingredients or intermediate/finished products that remain in suction and discharge piping at the end of production or during product changeovers is the same as watching money go down the drain. The key to eliminating this waste is identifying and deploying the most efficient and reliable pumping technology that can strip suction and discharge lines of still useable raw materials and saleable end products. Technologies such as lobe, external circumferential piston (ECP), twin screw, centrifugal, hose and progressive cavity-style pumps have routinely been used in hygienic manufacturing. Another choice is the eccentric disc pump. The pump’s operating principle—a disc revolving on an eccentric plane within a circular channel—gives it the ability to function in a nonpulsing, low-slip manner with high volumetric consistency. Eccentric disc pumps are also able to pump air, which creates a vacuum effect on the suction side and a compressor effect on the discharge side, resulting in the ability to push a complete product “plug” out of the piping without the need for expensive pigging systems or other line-clearing solutions. Here are several examples where eccentric disc pumps have been introduced to hygienic-manufacturing operations with good results:
Eccentric disc pumps can reduce waste in hygienic food and beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturing applications
Mouvex
02/14/2019
Image 1. The Shiseido facility in Ormes, France, has the ability to transfer up to 4 tons of product per day using the eccentric disc pump. (Image courtesy of Mouvex)
“We produce between 4 and 5 million bottles of wine each year, and an eccentric disc pump fills each and every one, “ said Mathieu Cerveau, a cellarman at Bailly Lapierre. “We wouldn’t be able to operate without them. The high flow rates are a key feature; since we deal with big volumes of liquid, we need a big flow. Another great feature is the strong suction. Because the pump is located in the pressing area, it has to suck the liquid from a lower level and send it through about 40 meters of piping. Additionally, just as we have designed our presses to handle the grapes as gently as possible, we love the fact that eccentric disc pumps feature no excessive shear that puts friction on the wine. But the best benefit for us is the higher rate of product recovery. These pumps can completely drain all of the juice from the piping and from inside the tanks.”