As an employer of 9,500 with a total of 92 facilities spread across the U.S. and the countries of Canada, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, Rock-Tenn Co., Norcross, Ga., is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of packaging products, merchandising displays, and bleached and 100% recycled paperboard. Rock-Tenn didn’t reach this status by allowing inefficiencies to infect its operations.
But that’s exactly what was happening at its St. Paul Paper Mill in St. Paul, Minn., in 2005. At that time, Tim Kreitz, the center’s Project Engineer, began having nagging maintenance problems with one certain lobe-type pump whose sole task was to incorporate a starch-based compound into the recycling process by moving it from a 5 ft X 5 ft tank through a series of pipes.
“It was an older pump and the seals would start to leak, then the pump would start to go,” explained Kreitz. “It would cost us $3,500 to rebuild it each time, and it would go out at least once a month.”
Realizing that there were better ways for the company to be spending its money, Kreitz began to search for a replacement for the problematic pump. That search led him to Blackmer’s C-Series line of eccentric disc pumps. In comparison to the lobe pump that had been in use, the C-Series eccentric disc pump has one shaft that is isolated from the pump fluid by a stationary bellows that flexes to take up the eccentric motion of the disc. Therefore, no mechanical seals are needed in its design. Lobe pumps, however, have a second shaft with each shaft requiring a mechanical seal. Since lobe pumps are designed with two seals, it is a pump that is more prone to leakage and this certainly was the case in Rock Tenn’s starch application. A Blackmer C-Series C8I Model pump was installed at the St. Paul facility in March of 2006 and since then, Kreitz has experienced none of the problems that plagued the lobe pump.
“The mechanical seals were the reason why the original pump would keep breaking down so we eliminated the seal part of it and we eliminated the problem,” said Kreitz. “Now, my mechanics have time to move onto other issues instead of spending so much time on this one area.”
 |
| Tim Kreitz, Project Engineer at Rock-Tenn’s St. Paul Paper Mill, kneels next to the Blackmer C-Series Eccentric Disc Pump. |
Since they are designed without mechanical seals, packing or magnets, Blackmer C-Series pumps eliminate leakage and have eliminated issues surrounding this particular application within the Rock-Tenn facility. The construction of the C-Series also makes it capable of emptying tanks and line stripping, to ensure valuable product is not wasted. It is also designed for self-priming and limited dry-run capability, while its automatic piston/cylinder wear adjustment ensures high volumetric efficiency over the life of the pump.
Even more important than the leak-free operation and peace of mind Kreitz and Rock-Tenn have experienced since the C-Series pump has been installed is the return on investment that the company has realized since purchasing and installing the Blackmer pump. With the old lobe pump failing at least once a month, that meant a dozen or more times a year that it would be out of service and have to be repaired at a cost of $3,500 for each breakdown.
“It paid for itself in the first two months after we installed it,” Kreitz said. “It’s been in there for so long now, and it’s never been touched, that I can’t even remember when I installed it. I put it in and forgot about it.”
Blackmer is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality flow technologies, including peristaltic hose, eccentric disc and rotary vane positive-displacement pumps, centrifugal pumps, screw compressors, air elimination systems and sliding vane and reciprocating compressors for the transfer of liquid and gas products. Blackmer is part of Dover Corporation’s Pump Solutions Group.
For more information about Blackmer C-Series Eccentric Disc Pumps, please contact Tom Stone at (616) 248-9252 or [email protected].