Processing, October 2018

f youre involved with chemical processing you know the result of incompatible materials in your transfer equipment Whether you are working with solvents bases or acids it is very important to consider how your product is going to react with your pumps under varying conditions and what changes can ensue from a chemical reaction Incompatibility between the product and the equipment often leads to damaged components and ultimately expensive repairs Gasket swelling melted plastics pitted or corroded metal parts are just a few of the visual damages to the equipment Although these damages can be costly when they are discovered they are often compounded when the product has been contaminated and rendered useless When working with chemicals of any type it is always a good idea to keep some of these compatibility factors in mind Concentration e strength of the chemical will have a big impact on which materials will be suitable for use For example a 5 solution of hydrochloric acid will have little to no e ect on 316ss where a 33 solution will cause pitting and eventually create pin holes Storage Some materials used for storing chemicals will react differently with those chemicals depending on the environment in which they are stored A polypropylene tote containing sulfuric acid may be perfectly ne being stored outdoors However if that same tote was lled with a sodium hypochlorite solution and left outdoors the addition of UV from the sun would cause a reaction compromising the integrity of the container Temperature Certain chemicals can become more reactive at higher temperatures making materials that were used at lower temps incompatible Sodium Hydroxide is just one example of this Although 316SS is widely used to handle this chemical at varying concentrations once the temperature is elevated pitting becomes a problem Proprietary Blends When working with proprietary blends chemical compatibility information can be hard to come by In this case the manufacturer of the product will be your best resource for information on how their product is best handled Ignoring these important compatibility factors will inevitably lead to the degradation of the pump equipment and eventually failure of the system After all of the equipment repairs and replacements product recalls and waste stream disposal the nancial implications can be quite extensive With a full fabrication and repair shop and a team of liquid transfer specialists spread across the country the Process Pumps Division of Motion Industries has the knowledge and resources required to select equipment that meets the requirements of your system as well as the compatibility needs of the product Ask your local Motion Industries Account Representative to help uncover the cost savings opportunities in your chemical processing system and put an end to constant repairs on chemical handling equipment and downtime Scott Edmonds is an Account Representative Specialist for Motion Industries with expertise in automatic lubrication systems design and process pump theory Over his 15 year history in industrial supply Edmonds has worked in the application of process pumps chemical testing and compatibility For more information visit MotionIndustries com and Mi Process Pumps Specialist https tinyurl com n5s2qwr And watch MiHow2 lubrication videos here https tinyurl com y7xa92fw for some informative demonstrations I SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Pump Compatibility i n C h e m i c a l P r o c e s s i n g By Scott Edmonds Motion Industries SPONSORED BY Image 1 This impellers outer rim clearly shows a chemical corrosion that unevenly degraded the impeller The evenly spaced holes are from impeller balancing and not from chemical attack Image 2 Inside the impeller a chemical incompatibility has begun to degrade around the vanes causing uneven wear