Case Study: Airedale Chemical
About them
Airedale Chemical are a family run business which have been producing dyes and chemicals for nearly 50 years. After many years supplying the textile industry, the company purchased their first chemical reactor in 2000 and have since grown exponentially, selling their products to new and existing dye industry customers. They now have a product portfolio of over 500 chemical solutions and solids, which are distributed to over 24 different industries across the UK, Europe, and other global locations.
Owned by the 3rd generation of the Chadwick family, the company continues to invest in technology to enhance their production processes. In their plant in West Yorkshire, Airedale Chemical required a pump for emulsifying soap. Initially the soap is provided in a granular form, but it needs to be broken down to a suspension, allowing it to be transported and bottled.
The problem
As the initial product is granular, the existing pump could not completely emulsify the particles consistently, leading to clumps in the liquid and the pump becoming blocked. Each time this happened, the pump needed to be stopped, dismantled, and cleaned before it could resume working on the batch. This was costing lots of money in downtime and manpower to fix as approximately 1-2 hours were lost in maintenance per production cycle.
The solution
After an initial consultation with one of our technical sales engineers to discuss the application, we decided a shear mixing pump was the best approach. The Packo SFP2 series pump was selected at the perfect choice for the process. A trial pump was provided to Airedale Chemical so they could test the pump for themselves.
The result
The trial pump was a great success and Airedale Chemical were very happy with the outcome. The major saving with this pump is time – they saved approximately 6 hours working time per day, which in turn saves money in the long run. The Packo SFP2 range is easy to clean and is CIP and SIP compatible. It also has a very quiet operating volume resulting in less noise disruption, making it perfect for busy operating plants such as this one.
Craig Wilkinson, Maintenance Manager, said “it’s been a huge success and I’m very pleased with how quiet and effective the pump has been.”
The Packo SFP2 pump can be used in a wide variety of applications including typically tricky mixing applications such as when mixing liquids of different viscosities, such as oil and water. It is also suitable for applications in the food and beverage industry due to its sanitary capabilities.
Click to find out more about the Packo SFP2 range.