A Guide to Choosing the Right Slurry Pump and Filtration System

The slurry business is a complex industry filled with myriad physical, economic, and legal considerations. As a project manager, choosing a proven, American-made slurry system can go a long way towards preventing clogs and breakdowns, ensuring your system remains a profitable and resilient wastewater solution.   

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However, not every system is built to handle the same loads or manage slurry in the same way. Understanding the different slurry pump and filtration system options on the market will help you find the right system for your project.  

Choosing a Slurry Pump

Slurry pumps come in various lengths, elevations, and materials. Be sure the pump you choose will perform at your specifications and can integrate well into your existing system.  

Types of Slurry Pumps

Not all slurry pumps are used for the same purposes or at the same processing stages. The first thing to consider when browsing the pump market is what kind of pump you need—horizontal, vertical, or submersible.   

Horizontal Pump

Horizontal slurry pumps move slurry parallel to the ground and handle highly abrasive or corrosive slurries with ease. Because they’re so durable, horizontal pumps are popular in heavy industry, including mining, metallurgy, and power generation.  

Vertical Pump

Vertical pumps are used to transport materials to different elevations. Often (but not always), a vertical pump will be partially submerged in a slurry pool to transport its contents to different parts of the project site. 

Submersible Pump

Submersible pumps are fully immersed in slurry. They are specially designed and built to handle the rigors of operating within a liquid, but they can degrade quickly, especially if your slurry is highly acidic.  

Slurry Pump Materials 

Consider what material you will be pumping. Some pumps are perfect for moving sand and mud, while others are more suited to processing sludge and other waste. Before making a purchase, ensure the pump’s material can handle the density, pH, viscosity, and temperature of the material you process. Full Circle Water’s “Waterbender” system automatically controls pH and bacteria in wastewater by implementing chemical intervention. 

Flow Rate

Different pumps process materials at different speeds, and the flow rate that’s best for your system will depend on what materials you process and during what stage of processing the pump will be used. For example, slurries that contain a lot of solids need to be pumped at a higher flow rate to prevent material from settling inside the pump and its connected hoses.  

Discharge Head

Any slurry pump you choose needs to be able to exceed the discharge head of your entire discharge system; otherwise, the system will not operate at peak efficiency and may suffer abrasion.  

Knowing the answer to these questions before you make a purchase will help you choose the best pump for your operation and avoid the costs associated with an inefficient or damaged slurry system.  

Integrating Your Pump into a Wastewater Filtration System

After you’ve selected a pump, you can pair it with a new or existing filtration system to optimize your entire water treatment process. Full Circle Water offers many different water filtration systems, including industrial slurry silos, portable filtration plants, and rapid resettlement systems.   

WAVE XP Plants

WAVE XP (formerly All-in-One) slurry silo filtration systems are turnkey solutions designed to provide efficient wastewater decanting regardless of the type of operation you run. Full Circle Water’s WAVE XP system was designed based on feedback from over 600 stone fabricators and is among our smartest and most effective slurry silo plants.  

Trailer Plants

Trailer filtration systems are designed to offer clean water on-the-go. Their compact, portable design makes them ideal for projects that need to set up or tear down quickly.  

Rapid Settlement Systems

Wastewater decanting is one of the most important phases in any slurry management system. Rapid resettlement systems are designed to recycle up to 90 percent of wastewater and feed it back into production, ensuring your operation never has to wait for water again.  

Find the Right Slurry System with Full Circle Water

Full Circle Water offers both turnkey and customizable slurry treatment systems. We seek innovative solutions and have a passion for helping our customers find the best systems for their industry.  

A filter press separates solids from various types of waste fluids and by-products created in a variety of industrial applications—typically in food, chemical, mining, edible oils, pigments and dyes and pharmaceutical industries.

The fluids processed through a filter press are often viscous sludge or slurries. They can be abrasive and chemically aggressive in nature.

Once processed, the trapped solids, referred to as a “cake," remain in the filter press. The cake can be reused in some processes or sold off for further processing. 

In many applications, the major advantage of the filter press process is that it minimizes the disposal costs tied to wet slurry. Because disposal costs are commonly based on the resulting cake weight, filter press operators strive to eliminate as much moisture as possible. 

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How Does a Filter Press Work?

Fluid is pumped through a filter press that contains a series of filters to trap particles. As fluid passes through the press, the flow gets more and more constricted. Meanwhile, solids collect on the surface of the filters. 

Because the filter continues to trap solids over time, the fluid pressure must be gradually increased to maintain adequate filtration flow rates.

As a result, the pump processing the fluid must be stopped periodically so the filters can be cleaned.

What Pumping Issues Occur?

Because filter press applications often involve corrosive or chemically aggressive fluids, safety and reliability are of the upmost importance.

The abrasive nature of certain fluids can lead to downtime; so, it is important to select the right materials to ensure all system components are suitable for the application.

Sometimes working with familiar pumps does not yield the best results. Single-stage centrifugal pumps are one of the most widely used pumps in the industry. They are often used in filter press applications but can be prone to leaks and can be energy intensive. Their efficiency is dependent on the flow speed, which is variable given how backpressure arises as the filter cake forms. 

Progressive cavity pumps can handle highly viscous fluids such as sludge. But they need costly maintenance if they are run dry and can wear prematurely when processing abrasive applications. As a positive displacement pump, progressive cavity pumps need pressure relief valves to prevent excess pressure buildup, which can cause damage and safety issues if not handled properly. Or, they need to be installed with additional instrumentation and expensive control systems to prevent over-pressurized conditions.

AODD Pumps

Air operated double diaphragm (AODD) pumps may be able to avoid filter press application concerns. Some of the benefits of AODD pumps include:

• They can stall without the need for controls and without consuming energy.
• They can run dry without damage.
• They can pass solids and handle abrasives, which minimizes downtime.
• They can be controlled through pressure regulation, allowing for simple installation and operation.

Additionally, filter presses often use air to control the hydraulic systems required to open and close the press, to press more filtrate from filters (through specialized pneumatic filters bladders) and for the blowdown sequence (needed to flush remaining filtrate from the filter press). 

Using an AODD pump can eliminate the need to run electricity to the press, which facilitates operation, minimizes installation costs and increases safety. 

AODD Pump Selection

AODD pumps can be ordered with components that have a high degree of chemical compatibility. Materials such as stainless steel, polypropylene and conductive polyvinylidene fluoride (CPVDF) are intended to be used in the most aggressive chemical transfer applications.

AODD pumps can be outfitted with diaphragms, balls and seats for abrasive applications, or with long-life polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) diaphragms. 

A 2:1 diaphragm pump can be used in parallel with conventional AODDs to achieve higher pressures (up to 200 pounds per square inch [psi]). This pump pairing will extend filter press run times and further dewater filter cakes.

When selecting an AODD pump, look for reliable and efficient air motor technology. This can cut downtime and reduce energy costs.

Consider an AODD pump with an integrated cycle counting sensor that can be wired into a plant control alarm. This will alert personnel when the pump has stalled, allowing for minimal filter press downtime. 

Diaphragm pumps also can be equipped with integrated sensors that alert maintenance personnel of the need to perform a diaphragm change should it rupture, and to stop the pump from running as needed. 

Fluid power products can further maximize efficiency.

Filters and regulators (FRLs) are typically installed in the airline before connecting the diaphragm pump. These FRLs ensure that the diaphragm pump is operating at optimal pressure while protecting it from airline contaminants and moisture. 

Point of use filtration is critical. Moisture and contaminants are absorbed in the air supply as it travels from the main compressor filter to where the equipment operates.

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