Paper mill replaces high maintenance lobe pumps with peristaltic metering pumps

Peristaltic pump in paper mill

Peristaltic metering

Paper mill increasingly reliant on peristaltic pumps for challenging applications and substances.
Reduced maintenance and inventory improves process uptime and reduces associated costs.

A major paper mill in Germany has replaced its existing diaphragm pumps with peristaltic pumps from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group and seen immediate process improvements including: reliability, increased up-time and ease of maintenance.

The Schoellershammer plant produces fine paper for the German and international markets with almost 240 employees and two paper machines.

Hundreds of pumps

Like all modern paper mills, there is a constant focus on the optimisation of production processes, and particularly on pumping. The plant uses hundreds of pumps across its site in countless applications.

Peristaltic technology is used at Schollershammer for pumping dye for the test liners on the PM 5 into a container.

“We previously used lobe pumps but they needed special O-ring seals and ball check valves, and there was always a risk of them getting blocked,” says Thomas Linnartz, Manager of the electrical workshop. “As a preventative measure, we had to clean the valves virtually every week, which was a considerable amount of work considering there were four valves on each pump.”

At the dye supplier’s suggestion, the plant decided to switch to peristaltic pumps, and three Watson-Marlow 521 series close-coupled peristaltic pumps are now deployed on the PM 5’s dye station. These robust industrial peristaltic pumps are designed specifically for use in the toughest conditions, and are suitable for flow rates from 2.5 to 4600 ml/min.

“Using Watson-Marlow pumps has led to a considerable reduction in the time spent on maintenance and repair work,” reports Mr Linnartz. “Firstly, this is because the pump has very long intervals between maintenance and, secondly, the tube can be changed very quickly.”

“We have established that there is practically no substance too tough for the peristaltic pumps to handle,” says Mr Linnartz.