Aker Wirth has received an order from Saudi Arabia to supply 11 piston-diaphragm pumps to Ma’aden Bauxite & Alumina Co for its refinery project. Eight pumps will be used as tube digester pumps in the Bayer process, and will pump the bauxite ore at a temperature of around 100°C. Three pumps will pump red mud to the disposal site, again at a temperature of around 100°C. Red mud is the waste product generated during digestion of bauxite. Each pump is driven by a 1,500-kW motor and has a total weight of some 105 t.

Within the framework of its joint venture, WorleyParsons Fluor from Brisbane, Australia is responsible for the entire project engineering, along with the construction of the facility in Saudi Arabia.

Aker Wirth says the reference “for this job is the Rio Tinto Yarwun alumina plant in Gladstone Yarwun/Australia, which is also using the Bayer process. At Yarwun 1, eight Aker Wirth pumps of identical type have been used for years with much success. Aker Wirth has delivered ten further pumps of this type to Yarwun 2, and these will shortly be put into operation.”