Eccentric Disc Pumps Recover Raw and Finished Materials in the MENA Food Market

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have always been prominent food importers rather than producers. The punishing climate and topography have challenged efforts to expand the region’s food-processing indus- try, especially in countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Now, after decades of steadily increasing activity, the MENA food market can expect to exceed 1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030, according to the World Bank. Rapid population growth, booming food service and re-export markets, and diverse customers looking for new tastes have ignited this rising demand. The MENA food industry is now flourishing, and many of the world’s leading food and beverage manufacturers have begun locating operations in the MENA region.

Lower Costs, Higher Yields

Food and beverage manufacturers in MENA countries face the same challenges as those in the rest of the world—maximizing product yields while optimizing operational costs. Tight budgets have forced plant operators to meet production goals while spending less money. While energy costs are often low in the MENA region, raw materials for food and beverage processing can come at a premium. A new focus on energy-efficient, or “green,” operations has been popular among plant operators seeking higher yields and lower costs. Energy-saving programs are not the only way food and beverage manufacturers can become more energy efficient. Fluid-transfer methods realize far greater savings than from energy alone in food and beverage processing—eliminating waste from the production process and maximizing product yield. Product waste is a severe drain on a food and beverage manufacturer’s bottom line. Wasted end-products washed out of production lines represent perfectly viable foods and beverages that could add to the manufacturer’s yield. Product recovery limits this waste and contributes to the cost-savings initiatives for the entire facility. Product recovery can relate to several different operations in hygienic manufacturing. This article will focus on eliminating product or ingredient waste that would otherwise remain in the suction or discharge process lines during changeovers or at the end of production runs. Positive displacement eccentric disc pumps possess the line-stripping and product-recovery capabilities to remove this waste and save MENA food and beverage manufacturers thousands of dollars in annual energy costs.

Energy vs. Product Recovery

Energy efficiency is one way to save operating costs, but for food and beverage manufacturers, energy alone will not deliver significant savings. Figure 1 shows how much money is consumed and potentially saved, per positive displacement pump, if the cost for energy is US$0.10 per kilowatt-hour (kwh). Each pump costs US$1,008 to run per year. If the energy factor were reduced by 20 percent—a large, highly unlikely factor—then each pump would cost US$202 less per year. Compare that savings with Figure 2, which shows how much can be saved using a positive displacement eccentric disc pump. A minimum product-recovery capability of 60 to 80 percent transfers more finished product from a feed tank to a filler. When the US$32,160 in product-recovery savings is divided by the US$202 in power savings, the product-recovery savings is almost 160 times higher per pump. The product-recovery savings from one year with a positive displacement eccentric disc pump will pay for 32 years of energy to operate the pump.

Eccentric Disc Advantage

In an eccentric disc pump, a disc moves on an eccentric plane within a circular channel. The pump provides non-pulsing, low-slip operation with high volumetric consistency. Flow rates vary minimally with changes in viscosity, temperature, system back-pressure and component wear. Specific designs can pump air even when no fluid is present. This creates a vacuum effect on the pump’s suction side and a compressor effect on the discharge side. Once the feed tank is empty, the eccentric disc design continues to pump air in a constant, non-abrupt, non-pulsating manner. Any remaining fluid keeps its surface tension, producing a “plug” effect that pushes out the product as a whole. Eccentric disc pumps can typically recover 95 percent of product on the pump’s suction side and between 60 and 80 percent or more on the discharge side.

Extended Product Recovery

Eccentric disc pumps recover product from hard-to-reach stages in the food and beverage manufacturing process. These stages pose challenges for traditional process pumps or product-recovery methods, especially where projectile recovery is dangerous or impossible:

• Tank bottoms, inlet and outlet lines
• Hoses
• Small-diameter lines
• Transfer lines, including ordinary valves, heat exchangers, magnetic traps and flow meters

No line interruptions between normal production and the product-recovery phases further extend product recovery.

Additional Savings

This technology can also eliminate other costs. When transfer pumps inadequately strip suction or discharge production lines, the ancillary costs incurred by the facility operator worsen:

• More water to clean the lines
• Additional cleaning and treatment chemicals to clean the lines
• Sanitizing chemicals to disinfect the lines
• Energy to facilitate the cleaning process
• Labor costs and hours to perform longer cleaning operations
• Disposal costs of used water, chemicals and product
• Water treatment costs and associated treatment chemicals

Time to Upgrade

Lobe, external circumferential piston (ECP), centrifugal, hose and progressive cavity pumps have been the go-to technologies in hygienic manufacturing processes for many years. While these technologies perform the basic pumping task because of their design and operating principles, they cannot adequately strip suction or discharge lines. This limitation is critical to the food and beverage industry, where the same pump may be used to transfer different products in a hygienic operation. Traditional pumps wear constantly. Internal clearances grow with time, resulting in product slip. This reduces flow capacity and volumetric efficiency as operating pressures and fluid viscosities vary. Lobe and ECP pumps have two shafts that have to be sealed, which doubles the areas where leaks can occur. Lobe and ECP pumps are also not self-priming. They can run dry for only a short time period unless they have flushed double-mechanical seals. These pumps will also experience diminished performance when handling low-viscosity materials. Projectile recovery systems are often needed with these pumps to push out residual product. Well-installed projectile systems deliver high recovery rates in product line runs without interruptions. No heat exchangers, valves, filters, flow meters or other accessories are required. However, only purified compressed gas or air can be used to push the projectile. Otherwise, plant operators will have a problem maintaining product purity.

A Growing Market

Food and beverage processing operators in the MENA region should, in addition to optimizing energy costs, target product recovery as an effective cost-saving tool. By design, eccentric disc pumps have the technological advantages that recover product as they transfer raw materials or finished product through suction and discharge lines. Thoughtful operators and end-users will capitalize on the MENA region’s food and beverage market growth by considering how they can save money and deliver quality goods to their customers at home and throughout the world. A version of this article originally ­appeared in the June 2014 issue of ­Pumps & Systems.