NETZSCH Pumps North America, LLC, experts in solutions designed specifically for difficult pumping applications, announces that global parent company NETZSCH Pumpen & Systeme GmbH, headquartered in Germany, has developed the full service-in-place (FSIP™) TORNADO® T2 rotary lobe pump, ideally designed for the various sludge conveyances in sewage treatment plants. The pumps are designed for the reliable conveyance of surplus sludge, which flows for thickening; activated sludge, which must be returned to the cleaning circuit; and thick sludge on the way to the press.

The TORNADO T2’s FSIP design improves access for inspection, cleaning, service, and replacing parts. Simply removing the cover plate on the TORNADO T2 allows quick and easy access to the pump chamber. The rotors can be removed and replaced easily and quickly because they are not bolted or keyed to the shafts inside the pump head. The rotors’ geometry allows their independent removal without the need for special tools. With the FSIP design, the TORNADO T2 saves time and costs in sewage treatment, ensuring that conveyance can continue as quickly as possible after necessary downtime.

The TORNADO T2’s FSIP design proved critical for a sewage plant in Münsterland, Germany, where a progressing cavity pump handling surplus sludge repeatedly had to be removed and serviced which was labor-intensive. Once this pump was replaced by the TORNADO T2, operators consistently were able to reach ideal flow rates for the sludge with no difficulty.

Another major advantage of the TORNADO T2 pump for the sewage sector is its practically maintenance-free drive. Instead of a complex timing gear, a robust, synchronous toothed timing belt drive system is used to transmit torque to the rotary lobe shafts. The drive greatly reduces the danger of transmission damage and also decreases weight and installation space. Since the drive requires no lubrication, oil changes are unnecessary and the chance of oil leaks is completely eliminated. 

Such leakage and contamination were a recurring problem in a small sewage plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in which sludge was conveyed from the primary and secondary treatment by conventional rotary lobe pumps for preliminary thickening and conveyance to the digestion tank. Because the room in which the pump was installed provided little space, cleaning and maintaining the leaking pumps was difficult. When plant management chose to replace the existing pumps with TORNADO T2 pumps at the beginning of 2014, the pumps’ compact construction created additional free space; reliability has drastically improved; and the pump building is cleaner with no oil leaks.