Hooked on plastic pumps

When Finish Thompson ETHYLENE COOL needed a demanding site to test its DB Series of plastic magnet-drive centrifugal pumps,Wright McGill, manufacturer of the Eagle Claw Fishing Tackle brand was happy to oblige.

The company makes fishhooks that require a range of metal finishing processes.

One such process involves concentrated nitric acid, used as a stripping agent to remove built-up plating materials.

The highly oxidising acid became saturated with the various plating products and engineers wanted to reduce its use.

A DB Series pump was installed on a trial basis in a filtration system designed to recycle the nitric acid.

The test pump was made from corrosion resistant materials including precision moulded carbon fibre filled PVDF, PTFE bushing, high purity ceramic and powerful neodymium drive magnets encapsulated in pure PVDF.

It was installed in the nitric acid recycling system and used to circulate 680L of acid through a series of filters, with each filter removing smaller particles. The goal was to recirculate the tank three times per hour until the nitric acid was clean enough for reuse.

The pump was in regular use for six months while the process was evaluated. Such was its reliability,Wright McGill has continued to use the Finish Thompson magnetic drive pumps for handling corrosive and hazardous fluids.

The pumps are available through Michael Smith Engineers