GIW Industries, a leader in the design, manufacture and application of heavy-duty, centrifugal slurry pumps, has announced that global talc producer Mondo Minerals has installed GIW’s High Volume Froth (HVF) pump at its talc processing plant in Outokumpu, Finland. During the pump’s first month of operations, the plant was able to stabilise the flotation process and eliminate a safety hazard. According to GIW, Mondo Minerals was aware of the success that had been attained by the Yara phosphate plant in Finland in solving a similar froth problem by installing GIW’s HVF pump and so opted to install its own HVF. Mondo Minerals’ talc processing plant had a froth-pumping problem. The high air content in the froth caused airlock in its previous slurry pump, which resulted in overflow of the pump sump. This caused an unbalanced process and decreased productivity at the plant. The operating losses were also happening when the plant was running at maximum output.
Operators tried various approaches to reduce the slurry pump airlock: they modified the sump and the inlet pipe to the slurry pump and installed spray nozzles to reduce the froth in the sump. However, these modifications were ultimately ineffective. With installation of the GIW HVF pump, Mondo increased its productivity within a month. Cost savings were also realised with the reduction of required fresh water. All this was achieved because the HVF pump does not airlock, allowing the customer to operate a morebalanced flotation process. In addition, now that the sump is not overflowing periodically, Mondo has eliminated a slip hazard, improving the work environment for its employees. The Mondo pump is operating at 250 m3/h and producing 18 m of head – supporting an improvement in overall plant efficiency. Mondo is looking at proceeding with further installations at other plant locations.
