GE Healthcare-Slurry Pumps

GE Healthcare AS, Lindesnes plants produce basic substances for contrast media used in medical imaging. These products are manufactured in one of the world's most modern and efficient processing plants.

One of the products in the process is slurry consisting of soft crystals and solvents. This slurry has been found to be very difficult to pump with common types of pumps due to several factors.

The intermediate product is very expensive and must be handled very carefully, since crystals can be destroyed by 'whipping'. The challenge is also that product that remains in pipeline when the production batch is complete will be lost.

GE Healthcare was willing to think outside the box and try the Mouvex pumping system on the application. We have completed a qualification test at Fuglesangs since pump technology has not been tested on the medium.

Test consisted of pumping of slurry between two tanks. Fluid velocity in pipes, lifting height and rpm on the pump was adapted to real application. GE has subsequently analyzed the medium that has gone through the pump in its laboratories using spectroscopy and concluded that the pump is very suitable for the application, which means that the customer has purchased several similar pumps for this application.

Below we summarize the main benefits of Mouvex pump for this application:

• Very gentle and predictable pumping, no crushing of crystals.
• Seel-free pump and without the use of magnetic couplings.
• The pump can soak dry to create a high vacuum on the suction side. High "product recovery" from the pipeline.
• The pump can pump air and have compressor power. High "product recovery" from pressure pipeline.