Local pumps supplier Ritz Pumps South Africa, a subsidiary of Austrian pumps manufacturer Andritz, will showcase its energy-saving and generating technological pumps, which incorporate turbine technology, at this year’s African Utility Week, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from May 12 to 14.
Andritz pumps and pumps-as-turbines sales and project manager Bruno Mellacher tells Engineering News that this will be the company’s second appearance at the event, where it made its debut in 2013, with two representatives from Andritz Europe scheduled to attend the event with local representatives.
He says the company’s exhibition stand will focus on equipment for mini and micro hydropower generation with hydrodynamic screws and pumps as turbines.
Mellacher explains that Andritz’s solution involves running centrifugal pumps in reverse, which saves energy as the pump operates as a turbine. He notes that, owing to lower acquisition and operating costs, compared with conventional turbines, Andritz’s pumps as turbines have become a favourite in the pulp and paper sector.
“For instance, our pumps are currently used at many major pulp mills in Uruguay and Indonesia, as well as at the Hui Nan Zhuang pumpstation, in China, which is the only pumpstation at the central water supply channel for the South-to-North Water Diversion scheme.”
Further, eight huge double- suction pumps, each with a capacity of 10 m3/s, are being used to supply drinking water to Beijing. Andritz’s vertical volute pumps are also being used at an irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh, India, with “each pump boasting capacity to fill a swimming pool within seconds”.
Mellacher concludes that Andritz, through Ritz Pumps South Africa, provides maintenance and servicing for the Southern Africa market.