Major chemical vendor standardises on Qdos® chemical metering pumps for reliable, low maintenance dosing

A leading global chemical vendor and provider of water treatment solutions integrates Qdos^® chemical metering pumps into its pods and skids to deliver reliable dosing and avoid unplanned, stressful maintenance at its customers around the world.

The major chemical vendor offers a broad range of water treatment chemistries and delivery systems with a tailored approach to ensure its customers’ processes operate at peak efficiency with reduced downtime and maximum reliability while minimizing costs.

Many water treatment applications require continuous, reliable chemical dosing, but traditional pump technologies can increase maintenance demands and create potential points of failure. By integrating Qdos pumps into its pods and skids, the chemical vendor helps customers simplify dosing operations, reduce maintenance interventions and improve process reliability.

The simplicity, easy installation and low maintenance requirements of Qdos have led to their increasing adoption by the chemical vendor’s customers in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Italy, France, Finland and elsewhere.

Qdos chemical metering pumps do not require many of the ancillary components associated with diaphragm and progressive cavity pumps. Maintenance is straightforward, with pumphead replacement requiring no tools and taking only a few minutes.

Low-flow emulsion polymer metering

In Canada, the chemical vendor has used Qdos 20 PU pumps to meter fixative (emulsion polymer) at very low flow rates for several applications when quick contained pump skids were required. The emulsion polymer can attack common elastomeric tubing found in many pumps causing premature failure. 

The Business Development Manager at the chemical vendor said: “The single most important reason we rely on Qdos pumps is their ability to deliver accurate, reliable chemical dosing with full chemical containment in demanding, often remote applications.

“The Qdos 20 is a good, reliable pump that stands up well and pumps accurately at the low dosing required of 20-70 mL/min. Because the Qdos was easy to deliver in place without the use of a forklift truck, it made it logistically helpful and is low impact to our customers.

“Various pumpheads and pump sizes allows for a large range of compatibility. The process pressure, chemical product and flow ranges are the only technical requirements to move forward.”

The Qdos pump’s precise control eliminates foam escaping from the chamber, saving time and money in cleaning up. Being able to adjust the flow rate by very small amounts allows the chemical vendor’s customers to maintain control of the foam depending on other returns to the chamber and removes a major safety hazard.

Dosing polymer

Skids fitted with Qdos chemical metering pumps are also used to dose more viscous chemicals, such as Poly Epi-Amine (from 15 – 125 mL/min) at a pulp and paper site in British Columbia, Canada.

A Sales Account Manager at the chemical vendor, said: “We would frequently have problems with piston pumps where the control screw would ‘walk out’ making it very difficult to control chemical feed, or [the piston pumps] would plug up when the chemical cooled off. Qdos overcame both issues. They can clear an airlock for applications where we’re feeding from a base tote and the line needs to be disconnected to swap totes, where as diaphragm pumps almost always give me issues there.

“I have many different chemical pumps at many different locations; low maintenance is critical so I can focus on other aspects of the job. I’ve experienced an entire tote drain through a leaking air bleed valve on a metering pump from another manufacturer, a $5,000 problem caused by a little plastic part, but the Qdos contains the chemical.

“Critical challenges with chemical control using a piston pump have led to serious downstream impacts in pulp mills. Qdos allowed us to fine tune the control and eventually establish a flow-based control.

“The Qdos pumps have been completely reliable after a year at the pulp and paper plant, despite a challenging area. Often the room will get very cold in the winter and the chemical will start to gel up which has caused issues with other pumps.”

Dosing sizing agents

In France, the chemical vendor has successfully integrated Qdos pumps into a range of customer systems, particularly within the pulp and paper sector for sizing applications using ASA (alkenyl succinic anhydrides) and AKD (alkyl ketene dimer). Qdos pumps handle ASA and AKD at flow rates ranging from 5 to 60 liters per hour.

In an ASA emulsifier system, the chemical vendor has replaced diaphragm pumps with Qdos because the end user prioritized simplicity of use and maintenance.

A sales engineer for the chemical vendor in France said: “Sizing applications are crucial for our paper making customers. If dosage stops, production stops. That is why Qdos pumps are so important for us due to their reliability, simple operation and easy maintenance/calibration for sizing chemicals.

“We also selected Qdos pumps for their compatibility with viscous products due to their low shear pumping, as AKD is an emulsion. Flow stability, no pulsation and connectivity to PLC on the ASA dosing skid were other requirements which Qdos met. Qdos pumps are also less affected by product buildup than diaphragm pumps, which have components like non-return valves and diaphragms that are more prone to deposition.”

This major chemical vendor relies on Qdos pumps for:

• Low maintenance: Reliable pumps are essential to avoid unplanned, costly downtime at customer sites
• Simple operation: Easy to use, quick maintenance, no training required which allows operators to become comfortable with the pumps quickly
• Safety: chemical containment, so no messy leaks of polymer to clean up for the customer
• Gentle pumping: Low shear pump to protect the integrity of the chemical
• Controllable: For drip-feed dosing, adjustable in very fine increments to respond to process variations such as filtrate and thickened liquor returns
• Environmental: The fully enclosed pumphead prevents leaks and protects surrounding areas

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