The pumps were required to transfer vegetable oils from road tankers into storage tanks at its Erith plant, in Kent, but also had to enable gradual production expansion – and do so cost-effectively.
At the outset, volumes would be low but were forecast to grow, so the pumping solution had to be designed to scale – consuming minimum energy from day one but also requiring no further installation or development work as volumes increased.
Additionally, the facility had to be commissioned and on-line within eight weeks – half the period usually required to design and manufacture bespoke pumping solutions such as this.
Furthermore, Amarinth managing director Oliver Brigginshaw explains that, as an existing customer, it also made sense that the pumping solution should have spares interchangeability with the existing on-site pumps.
Hence the choice of Amarinth's C-series ISO 5199 single-stage centrifugal end suction process pump as the basis for this new pumping installation.
As for the volume ramp-up requirement, Brigginshaw says the solution was his company's variable speed drive technology, which adjusts pump motor speed between 10Hz and 50Hz.
With the cube law on power saving at slower motor speeds, this approach is saving Pura Foods massively on energy costs in the early days of this expanding production line.