News

At Cat Pumps we regularly develop specialised variants of our standard pump range and we assemble these into complete systems for our customers. It is a service that is becoming more widely appreciated by clients across broad industry sectors.

An example where we have been very successful is the manufacture of high-pressure pump modules for cleaning filter press cloth in the waste-water treatment industry, although the concept is relevant to other applications and industries. Our customised skid designs take care of the drive motor and transmission, the water feed to the pump, liquid level control and low-pressure returns to tank from the valves as well as safety considerations such as guards and over-pressure protection. An additional benefit to our customers is that they need to place only one purchase order and pay one invoice for a fully-tested assembly that’s ready-to-run.

Filtration is increasingly being seen as an essential process in the treatment of industrial wastewater. In order for filter presses to separate solids from liquid and form a filter cake, each filter cloth has to be capable of allowing the optimum level of filtrate to pass through during each operating cycle. Cleaning the cloth is therefore an essential operation.

In order to enable manufacturers of filter presses to attain the highest levels of cleaning efficiency, our design team has developed a ‘Wash Module’ based on our high pressure positive displacement pumps. Filter cloth washing is best achieved by using an integral, automated spray arm system, with the cleaning water being applied at high pressure. This increases filter press efficiency by cleaning particulates, fats, oils, proteins and other hard-to-remove residues from the cloth, opening the weave to increase water throughput. Automatic cloth-wash systems are faster than manual washing, reducing out-of-commission down-time and improving consistency of cleaning.

Our pump modules for filter presses typically incorporate a pressure regulator valve, a relief valve and a three-port diverter valve, which off-loads the pump during idle times to reduce energy consumption and pump wear (Fig. 1). Customers can also take advantage of an optional stainless-steel high capacity integral supply tank, and a water intake strainer which protects the pump and prevents blockage of the spray nozzles.

The excellent field-proven reliability and durability of our triplex positive displacement plunger pumps guarantees that high volumes of pressurised wash-water are available on demand whenever required. The most popular pump models that we offer for this particular application are the model 3545, which delivers up to 210 litres/minute and the model 6767, which delivers up to 285 litres/minute (Fig.2). Even higher flowrates are available, either from a single larger pump or using two smaller pumps in tandem, which results in a high performance wash module at an economical purchase price.

Both the 3545 and 6767 models are constructed from high quality components and can be customised to individual customer’s specifications. They are fully assembled and tested before despatch, and units together with spare components are held in stock in the UK.

Built-to-order skids and units that integrate pumps, tanks, valves and pipework is an element of our business that is growing in demand as customers come to recognise the benefits of having a modular system that is simple to install.