Like many topics I’ve covered in this column, technologies developed for other industries often find applications in food and beverage. Take, for example, breweries having to pump spent grain—usually caked up—to silos or storage tanks. The stuff plugs up piping and pumps. Been there, done that, however, for sewage. In fact, SEEPEX had already invented a solution for sewage handling where sludge with 20% to 40% dry matter content needs to be pumped over distances up to 1,000 meters.
The company was recently awarded a patent for its Smart Air Injection (SAI) technology, which involves pulsing compressed air into a progressive cavity (PC) pump, giving the sludge a push in the right direction. Open-hopper SAI systems with smart conveying technology reduce maintenance time by up to 85% with maintain-in-place, requiring no disassembly of discharge piping.