Distillation technology is one of the most common applications in many chemical industries as it results in a high-quality product. It offers an excellent saleability of the products in the global market. It is also used in many industries other than chemical industries, such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, and the environment.
It’s an essential part of the production of many oil products and bioethanol as an eco-friendly fuel. The distillation process is the separation of the elements in a liquid mixture by partial vaporization, followed by condensation, taking advantage of differences in volatility.
Nowadays, dry vacuum pumps are gaining importance in the various process industries due to
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Clean process,
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high-quality vacuum,
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low maintenance
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less environmental footprint.
As dry vacuum pumps are engineered to handle a robust environment, they have proved to be the trustworthy and best solution for many Industries
Majorly, two types of Dry Vacuum Pumps and Pumping systems are used in the industry:
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Screw Coated Dry Vacuum Pump, and
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Dry Claw Type Vacuum Pump
Both pumps are used for the distillation of oil in an automotive brake fluid manufacturing company.
Difference Between Screw Coated and Dry Claw Vacuum Pump
Before studying the case study, let us discuss the difference between both the pumps from the distillation process point of view.
Generally, dry vacuum pumps can handle corrosive vapors by keeping them as vapors and not allowing them to condense. As dry vacuum pumps are dry, there is no natural internal flushing of the process out of the pump. Dry screw vacuum pumps and dry claw vacuum pumps are both vacuum pumps, but due to different working principles, they possess many differences in structural design, reliability, etc
Screw Coated Vacuum Pump |
Dry Claw Vacuum Pump |
The coating is wear coating |
Completely uncoated Claw and Rotors |
At higher temperature coating gets damaged and increases corrosion |
No Issues at Higher Temperature |
As the pump runs hot, the polymerization of process vapors develops on running components and creates maintenance issues or removal of wear coating.
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How Dry Claw Vacuum Pumps proved beneficial for the Automotive Brake Fluid Industry?
Glycol ethers are used in the manufacturing of brake fluids. They are colorless, flammable which are readily miscible with alcohol, ethers, water, etc., and have a higher boiling point. Since liquids boil at low temperature under vacuum conditions, vacuum distillation is used to condense high-boiling liquids that would disintegrate at their normal boiling points.
The brake fluid manufacturing company was using the screw coated dry vacuum pump and faced multiple issues such as;
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Due to the entry of particles and condensation, the coating got damaged
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Reduction in vacuum
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Increase in batch time
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Huge increase in repair and maintenance cost
To solve the above issue, the company approached us to seek advice and suggestions.
HIS Pumps and System Private Limited provides efficient industrial pumping technology, solutions, and services to the customers in the Chemical,Pharmaceutical & other process industries
The team at HIS Pumps and Systems examined the issue and recommended the following solutions:
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Installation of a vertical dry claw vacuum pump with complete automation.
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Supplied a pump with a flushing mechanism for cleaning the particles and choking of the pump.
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Recommended installation of vacuum trap insulation to trap particles.
Results Achieved
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As a vertical dry claw vacuum pump was used, the condensate drained out easily
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The system started running smoothly at 1 Torr vacuum
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The batch time is reduced and leads to minimum repair and maintenance costs.
We successfully solved the issue related to the pump used for distillation of oil. The client was satisfied since their system ran seamlessly at 1 Torr vacuum with reduced batch time and resulted in minimum maintenance cost. Hence, you can say that Dry Claw Vacuum Pumps can also be used for the automotive brake fluid industry.