The ongoing infrastructure projects in the water, wastewater and power generation sectors in South Africa, as well as the recent rise in productivity in the mining sector, have created the opportunity for VerderHus screw channel pump’s efficiency to be tested in the African mining industry, states pumps manufacturer Verder Pumps South Africa (VPSA).

VPSA marketing manager Laetitia Moller mentions that the VerderHus screw channel pumps have been used in applications where it pumps sewage and abrasive liquids in Europe and that its success there has prompted VPSA to try it in similar applications in Africa.

“The VerderHus screw channel pumps are designed to transfer different types of slurry and sludge with reduced wear. They are also highly efficient and lower operational costs. As a result, we are working on a cost-saving analysis project with one of the diamond mining companies in the country, where we have put the VerderHus screw channel pump’s ability to save operational costs to the test,” she says.

VPSA launched the VerderHus screw channel pump in 2012 at the Electra Mining Africa exhibition. “Since the launch, the pump has proven to achieve best efficiency in comparison with other pumps systems of the same size, in applications such as sewage water treatment works and sewage thickening systems, sludge recirculation and wastewater treatment plants, and coal-fired, oil-fired and nuclear power plants,” she notes.

“This is not the first pump of its kind in South Africa, but unlike its opposition, the VerderHus screw channel pump has no clogging, owing to its unique impeller design. The impeller is shaped like a corkscrew, providing a semi-axial pumping action. Subsequently, long fibrous foreign matter hardly ever causes problems with roping and tangles, thus reducing the maintenance costs,” Moller tells Mining Weekly.

She adds that that the special impeller ensures high efficiency and a wide passage outlet, even when thicker fluids are pumped.

The cone form of the pump ensures a blockage-free operation as it reduces power consumption and, as a result, electricity costs are reduced when pumping liquids containing solids, sludge and slurry.

The company believes that, with the current electricity crisis in South Africa, the pump is well suited to help a power plant reduce its electricity consumption. “We recognise our end-user’s biggest challenges such as the economy and the weakening rand, issues of water and electricity, as well as the skills shortage. This is why VPSA believes that the VerderHus screw channel pump could benefit the South African market, as it is aimed at providing solutions to these problems,” she explains.

Moller points out that, despite the traditional South African industrial pump user market – specifically in the mining industry – showing a considerable decline in demand over the past few months, there is a growing need in Africa for the supply of these type of pumps, given the current mining developments on the continent.

VPSA believes that the demand for traditional pumps in South Africa will eventually increase again and VerderHus screw channel pumps will still be available to the market to help deal with challenges such as pumping thick and polluted fluids and the high maintenance costs that are a challenge in the mining industry at present.