Vacuum pumps and compressors are used in many applications in the chemical industries. Technologies used are dry running and oil lubricated rotary vanes, liquid ring and rotary screw pumps as well as ejectors. Engineered systems designed and built for our demanding customers assure safe and reliable operation.
Compressed air can also be found in numerous uses in this industry. Both oil lubricated and oil free compressors deliver a safe and reliable form of energy that can be used on both sensitive products and in hazardous environments.
Another product range is available for the safe transfer of chemical and petrochemical liquids in bulk at both standard and high pressure.
Biofuel Production
Bioethanol is produced using fermentation and biodiesel goes through a transesterfication process. Both methods use vacuum, which is involved in steps such as distillation, rectification, and filtration.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Nash, Hoffman, Lamson
Bulk Transfer
Emco Wheaton & Todo has the broadest product range available anywhere in the world today, for the safe transfer of chemical and petrochemical liquids in bulk at both standard and high pressure. Products and sytems provided include Marine, Road and rail Loading and unloading arms, Dry Break couplers and adapters, hydraulic couplers and break-away systems.
Related Brands: Emco Wheaton, Todo
Chlorine Compression
In this application, chlorine gas is recovered and compressed. The seal liquid is concentrated (> 96%) sulfuric acid. Materials used must be compatible with this highly dangerous gas and seal liquid.
Related Brands: Nash
Coating
When industrial surfaces are coated, metal vapours are handled under vacuum. In typical processes the metal condenses as a thin layer on the surface of the substrate. Vacuum is necessary to keep the metal vapours under pressure.
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle , Hoffman, Lamson
Compressed Air Applications
Clean oil free compressed air can also be used in the chemical or pharmaceutical process, coming in direct contact with products. Chemical processes often need large volumes of clean oil free air, making Quantima the ideal selection.
- Process air – Air used in direct contact with product for such usages as cleaning, aeration and product moving.
- Control valves & cylinders – Equipment used in the manufacturing process is controlled by compressed air.
- Material handling – Compressed air operated fluid pumping systems are used in volatile enviroments without the risk of explosion
- Nitrogen generation – Compressed air is filtered via a membrane to produce nitrogen used in a variety of chemical applications
- Air curtains – Compressed air is used as a curtain to create a safe and clean area
- Product drying – Compressed air is mixed with product to accelerate drying processes
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Champion, CompAir, Bottarini, Hoffman, Hydrovane , Lamson
Control products
Using materials and designs to make pumps resistant to aggressive chemical fumes, the Welch-Ilmvac brand provides a wide range of vacuum level, flow, and control products and systems. Our technology helps the chemical industry develop, analyze, and produce the component ingredients found in many modern products.
Related Brands: Welch-Ilmvac
Cooling
Surfaces are cooled through the controlled evaporation of water or other solvents. The latent heat of the substrate and the vacuum remove the localised heat, causing a cooling effect.
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle
Crystallization / Evaporation
Crystallization is accomplished by evaporation and cooling of a supersaturated liquid to form crystals. These crystals are easy to handle, store, and are sold in this finished form. Liquid ring vacuum pumps are ideal for controlling the evaporation/cooling rates across all pressure ranges to reduce production cost by lowering the boiling point of the liquid.
Related Brands: Nash
Degassing
Degassing is the removal of dissolved/trapped gases from a liquid or product. Vacuum created by liquid ring pumps allows the vapor to be removed from the liquid. This improves the product's physical characteristics to allow further processing, and thus avoiding cross contamination and corrosion.
- Degassing oils to improve purity (hydrocarbon oil, transformer oil, turbine oil, brake fluid, hydraulic brake oil, etc.)
- Degassing glues, pastes, paints to remove unwanted gases that would harden or degrade the product
- Degassing polymers in an extruder to obtain a higher quality product or bubble free sheet
- Degassing water for medical, food and boilers
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle, Hoffman, Lamson, Nash
Distillation
Distillation is the separation of two or more distinct layers or zones, which differ in temperature, pressure, composition or phase state. As the tower moves to equilibrium, each zone will have a different concentration, and thus, can be separated from the original mixture. Simply put, the distillation column provides an atmosphere where each liquid component can separate from another by changing the vacuum and temperature. The vacuum system removes the non-condensable load, water and light ends from the system allowing the feedstock to be processed through the column to achieve separation. The gas removed from the top of the tower is condensed, and the liquids are reintroduced into the tower for further separation. Typically used on fatty acids, monoglycerides, vitamins (A,E), oils, esters, paraffins, insecticides, plasticizers, etc.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Hoffman, Lamson, Nash
Drying (Tray, Rotary, Tumble, Conical & Freeze Dryers)
Drying is a low cost, relatively low temperature process where the biological or active ingredient is not harmed/degraded/oxidized by pulling vacuum to evaporate liquids from the solids. Pharmaceutical/biological products are dried to remove solvents, water, etc. and typically require a vacuum below 1 torr in the final drying stage. The remaining cake is granulated, blended, and pressed into pills. The low residual moisture levels make the product useful for longer term storage.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Hoffman, Lamson, Nash, Elmo Rietschle
Filling and/or Transfer of Material
Creams and pastes require removal of air when filling tubes, etc. This is accomplished with small liquid ring pumps located on the filling machine. Liquid transfer occurs by using a vacuum pump to fill the tank and then discharge it via a compressor. This is accomplished with liquid ring vacuum pumps.
Related Brands: Hoffman, Lamson, Nash
Fluid Transfer
Oberdorfer offers a fine line of quality Chemsteel pumps designed to handle common and highly-corrosive liquids that must be pumped under pressure. Manufactured to precise tolerances, the Chemsteel pump line prevents system contamination while maintaining the purity and integrity of the source liquid. Additionally, Chemsteel pumps offer bi-directional operation for applications requiring reversing flow.
Related Brands: Oberdorfer
Gas Compression
Gases must be compressed before they can be pumped through pipelines for further use. In many cases this compression is also necessary in order to reduce the volume of storage space required.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Elmo Rietschle, Hydrovane , Hoffman, Lamson
Hydrogen Compression
This application involves the recovery of hydrogen gas. The low molecular weight of hydrogen and its explosive nature create challenges when selecting equipment. NASH compressors are ideally suited for this application due to their liquid ring technology, which minimizes the chance of explosion.
Related Brands: Nash
Impregnation
Impregnation involves the following process: the final product, a motor winding for example, is evacuated in a receiving vessel. A suitable impregnating agent, such as a resin, penetrates the surface of the material under vacuum.
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle
Inks and Solvents
Emco Wheaton & Todo designs, manufactures and supplies a broad range of solutions for the ink and solvents industry. Products and sytems provided include marine, road and rail loading and unloading arms, Dry Break couplers and adapters, hydraulic couplers and break-away systems.
Related Brands: Emco Wheaton, Todo
Pneumatic Conveying
Chemicals can be conveyed safely and economically with stand-alone compressors or vacuum pumps and central systems. Dust free and therefore loss-free conveying, simple design of the piping and no deformation of the conveyed material are assured.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Champion, Elmo Rietschle, Hoffman, Hydrovane , Lamson
Portable Compressors
Portable air compressors have been used in the chemical industry for many years, oil and gas storage terminals, where product is pumped ashore from waiting ships. They are a flexible and reliable source of air which can be moved and placed in any safe location. They are also used in cleaning processes where in normal operation electricity can not be used.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Champion, CompAir, Bottarini, Hydrovane
Reactors / Reactor Drying
Reactors are used in fine chemical, pharmaceutical and fragrance industries. The vacuum is used to reduce/control the temperature of the reaction, remove reacted products, reduce cost, control/improve product quality, and recapture product. There is a wide array of chemical processes suitable for using liquid ring pump technology. These include: pharmaceutical intermediates, chemical reactions for neutralization and adsorption, stripping/cracking of hydrocarbons and other chemicals, and synthesis of chemical compounds.
Related Brands: Nash
Solvent Recovery
Vacuum systems are used to draw off and recover VOC’s without releasing them to the atmosphere. Often times, a liquid ring pump is the ideal choice, as the gaseous VOC’s can be condensed inside the pump. Typically, the same VOC’s are used as the pump seal liquid, so pure product is recovered in the liquid state. Environmental emissions are reduced and valuable product is recovered.
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle, Hoffman, Lamson, Nash
Thin-layer Evaporation
This process, which is also called molecular evaporation, is used to separate substances that have narrow boiling point ranges. Such equipment has a special design that only operates properly at specific vacuum levels.
Related Brands: Elmo Rietschle
Vacuum Filtration
In this application, the moisture from the filtrate receiver of a vacuum filter is collected and fed back into the system. If a system upset occurs, such as the failure of the filtrate pump, slugs of liquid can carry over into the vacuum system. Soft solids from the filter can also enter the vacuum system. In both cases, the liquid and soft solids will not damage the liquid ring vacuum pump, improving the overall reliability of the vacuum filtration system. A variety of seal liquids compatible with the process vapors may be selected in order to minimize contamination of gases extracted during the filtration process.
Related Brands: Hoffman, Lamson, Nash
Vapor Recovery / Gas Boosting
This application differs from vent gas recovery in that the vapors recovered are of a relatively fixed composition rather than a variable mixture. A typical application is capturing gases vented from storage tanks. The vacuum level is closely controlled in order to protect the storage tanks. Usually the discharge pressure is relatively low. Often these gases are returned to the process or are liquified and returned to the storage tanks.
Related Brands: Gardner Denver, Nash, Hoffman, Hydrovane , Lamson