Why Peristaltic Pumps Are Ideal for Pumping Aluminium Oxide Slurries

Aluminium oxide slurry is one of the most abrasive media encountered in industrial pumping applications. Used across a range of industries, including the manufacture of abrasive products such as sandpaper, it can rapidly wear conventional pumps if the wrong technology is selected.

Selecting the right pump technology for abrasive slurry applications is therefore critical to achieving reliable operation while reducing maintenance requirements and lifetime operating costs.

Why Aluminium Oxide is Difficult to Pump

The extremely hard, abrasive nature of aluminium oxide rapidly wears seals, impellers and other wetted components in many conventional pump designs.

As components wear, pump performance declines, maintenance requirements increase, and the likelihood of unplanned failures rises. This can lead to higher replacement part costs and costly production downtime.

Why Peristaltic Pumps Are Ideal for Abrasive Slurries

For highly abrasive products such as aluminium oxide, peristaltic hose pumps offer significant advantages over many alternative pump technologies.

Unlike conventional pumps, only the hose comes into contact with the process fluid. There are no mechanical seals, valves or impellers exposed to the abrasive media, dramatically reducing component wear.

Peristaltic pumps are well suited to handling slurries, sludges and highly viscous fluids, with many designs capable of pumping fluids containing between 15% and 80% solids, depending on the application.

Additional benefits include:

• Self-priming capability
• Safe dry-running without damage
• Accurate and measured flow for metering applications
• Simple maintenance, with the hose acting as the primary wear component

A Real-World Example: Engineering a More Reliable Solution

CDR Pumps recently helped one of our customers to upgrade their existing peristaltic pump to a more reliable solution.

They were using a peristaltic pump with a fixed shoe design for an abrasive slurry application involving sandpaper grit and were experiencing repeated reliability issues.

While fixed shoe pumps are widely used, the continuous friction between the shoe and hose generates heat during operation. When pumping highly abrasive products, this additional friction can accelerate hose wear and reduce service life.

To improve reliability, our engineering team upgraded the pump to a design incorporating:

• A roller shoe design to reduce friction and operating temperature
• Silicone lubrication to minimise wear
• Adjustable roller compression (‘pinch’) to optimise hose performance for the application

The control system was also re-engineered to allow the pump to run in reverse, enabling operators to clear occasional blockages without dismantling the system.

The Result

Following the upgrade, the installation operated reliably, eliminating the regular failures experienced with the previous pump.

The improvements delivered several operational benefits, including:

• Reduced costs for replacement parts
• Lower maintenance requirements
• Increased operating hours
• Reduced production downtime
• Easier recovery from blockages through reverse operation