Neptune Chemical Pump offers acid-handling solutions

By admin January 13, 2015 11:54 am IST

Industries like mining, food and beverage processing or steel manufacturing etc., cannot survive without water. In most instances, water is used to help facilitate and optimise the production process, from cooling equipment to cleaning totes, barrels and storage tanks.
When used in these types of applications, clean water is quickly transformed into wastewater full of impurities. Aiding in wastewater disposal or recycling are acids that help make it safe to either be reused or introduced to the environment. This article will highlight the pumping technology—diaphragm-type metering pumps—that successfully meets the challenges in most wastewater-handling applications that require the use of acids.
The challengeAcids are an industrial jack-of-all-trades used in a dizzying variety of unique applications and processes, including the manufacture of agricultural fertilisers, cosmetics productions, fluoridation of drinking water, pH adjustment in cooling towers and boiler water pre-treatment.
A few of the more commonly used acids in these applications include hydrofluorosilicic acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid and citric acid. These acids are used in wide range of applications, from water fluoridation and regeneration to metal pickling and food flavouring.
What all of these acids have in common is that safety in containing, controlling and handling them is a critical concern, not only to protect the health and productivity of workers, but to ensure zero impact on the environment. For example, hydrofluorosilicic acid is highly corrosive to most metals, while sulphuric acid is highly exothermic.