TPi April 2012

plast ic pipes

High quality water filtration One of Europe’s largest manufacturers of plastic piping systems has made a significant move towards energy and production savings through the installation of the latest high efficiency water filtration technology. “In this particular instance, the maintenance team had been trying to control a number of issues they were experiencing with its closed loop cooling system which was not only displaying discolouration through red deposits but had become a breeding ground for bacteria. They were mainly concerned about the dreadful water quality in the cooling system, which was giving out an extremely unpleasant odour.

having to cope with a cooling system operating across 30 machines in the moulding shop. They were surprised at how compact the filter actually was and how easy it was to install. “The effects of the filter were seen quite quickly with clean water established within 3 to 4 weeks. Of course this meant that there were savings to be made against the reduction of chemical use but the real savings were on the cycle times. The build up of slime had been affecting the cooling capacity thereby extending curing times; by cleaning up the water the flow rates increased, stoppages for cleaning time were reduced and production speed on the moulding machines could be maintained at original levels. “The maintenance team had also been on the receiving end of numerous complaints about having to stop the machines and clean them out. Since the installation of the CrossFlow AMF these have stopped. Whilst those working in the moulding plant will be enjoying a much better working environment having eradicated the odour emanating from the water, it is too early to establish other benefits. However, from experience we know that the company will see a big improvement in energy savings and with maintenance down time now being practically non-existent we would expect the company to see a quick return on their investment.” Industrial Purification Systems – UK sales@industrial-purification.co.uk www.industrial-purification.co.uk

Steve Cupples, managing director of Industrial Purification Systems, explains: “The company concerned uses the manufacturing method called thermosetting plastics for the manufacture of products for residential, commercial and infrastructure sectors. The whole process is very much an exacting one with the ability to cool the thermosets playing a vital part in total plant capacity. This is a high temperature moulding process whereby product is manufactured at temperatures above 200°C. The cure or cooling time required to achieve physical stability therefore dictates this production capacity. “By applying chilled water through fine cooling tracks found in the moulding head the thermosets can be hardened quickly. If this cooling system blocks or becomes fouled for any reason the thermosets take longer to harden which effectively slows down production. In reality this could translate into a slow down of just 10 seconds. However if you multiply this slow down across an entire production line, this would seriously affect production capacity and ultimately the bottom line.

“A continuous programme of chemical treatment to kill the bacteria had been put in place but this was causing a build up of dead bacteria, the resultant slime consequently blocking the system. Production then had to be stopped for cleaning purposes. As this was a repeating cycle of events it was causing a lot of problems. The issue here was not necessarily to do with wastage of product but more to do with wastage of time. “A SpinClean filtration unit was already in place but this was clearly not capable of handling a problem such as this. We therefore recommended that they installed our new high efficiency media filtration technology called the CrossFlow AMF, which was fitted as a side stream filter during the summer months. “The maintenance team were expecting quite a large piece of technology to be installed for the type of problem they were experiencing which necessitated

PPRC sanitary pipes Esen Plastik AS offers Esen PPRC sanitary pipes in four colours – white, grey, green and brown. The pipes are preferred for the hot and cold sanitary plumbing systems of buildings all over the world due to their durability, long life and the fact that they do not contain carcinogen substances.

by chemicals and changes in humidity ratios. It may be applied to industrial pipelines, greenhouse irrigation, water treatment, pool, yacht, ship and boat installations by the no-leak directly- welded installation technique. Esen Plastik is located in Turkey and has been producing plastic pipes for infrastructure, superstructure and irrigation systems since 1976.

Glass reinforced PPRC pipe, which is resistant to higher temperature, offers solutions in central heating services. As it does not have any absorbing properties, it is not affected

Eldem Esen – Turkey esen@esen.com www.esenplastik.com.tr

PPRC sanitary pipes from Esen Plastik

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April 2012 Tube Products International