The Basingstoke Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) processes sludge from various locations in either liquid or cake form. The centre houses facilities, including thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion plants, capable of processing 53tDS/day of sludge from Basingstoke, Farnham, Fleet, Guilford, and Newbury. The site now generates enough energy from waste to power itself and export to the national grid.
The pulper feed pumps from another supplier were experiencing stator failures every four months, which caused breaks in the processing of the sludge, leading to reduced energy production and time-consuming, costly repairs. Thames Water approached Seepex with the task to offer a pump capable of transferring up to 30 m3/hr of 6-10%DS high-temperature sludge.
Seepex selected its BNM pump – fitted with smart maintenance solutions, and also incorporated its advanced digital monitoring package.
Since its installation, the BNM pump with integrated pump monitoring, has been operating 24/7 without requiring any service intervention. Real-time data collected through the monitoring sensors has allowed Seepex to provide the site with real-time information on the pumps performance. Any deviation from the pumps design parameters triggered an investigation.
This approach highlighted fluctuations in the sludge temperature and the time of day these fluctuations occurred. Analysis of the data by Seepex enabled the correct rotor/stator combination to be selected which will again reduce the downtime of this asset even more.
The pump is claimed to have enabled Thames Water Basingstoke to benefit from reduced downtime and cost savings. The elimination of frequent stator failures and prompt detection of potential issues is said to have increased uptime, maximising operational efficiency while the streamlined maintenance process has reduced spend on costly spares.