The economics of applying internal coatings to pump casings

Abstract

Pumping is one of the major costs in many industries that require liquid transportation. By improving pump efficiency, significant energy and cost savings can be achieved. One of the methods that are used to improve pumping efficiency is to apply an anticorrosion coating to the pump internal surfaces. The coatings trialled in this project are two ceramic filled epoxies from two different suppliers, and an epoxy from a third supplier. These were trialled on two pumps and pump efficiencies were measured over a ten year period. Results are presented and compared. It was found that ceramic filled epoxies achieved the best performance in these examples. It was also found that regular pump testing is an ideal method to evaluate pump performance and can be used to schedule major overhauls. Copyright © (2012) by the Australasian Corrosion Association.