rapid column tests

Masterflex gear pump systems used for feeding “spiked” water With clients including the European Commission and UK government agencies, The Water Research centre (WRc) provides consultancy services for the water, waste, and environmental sectors. A growing area of interest for WRc’s clients is the removal of pesticides and other micropollutants potentially harmful to the environment from water being treated. This includes conducting continuous flow tests with activated carbon (Rapid Column Tests). Partially treated water from specific sites is “spiked” with a range of pesticides or other regulated chemicals or nuisance micro-contaminants (such as Geosmin). In WRc’s Rapid Column Tests, the flow of the spiked water is critical. The flow rate of the water is usually low (5 to 10 ml/min), needs to be pulseless and relatively insensitive to changes in back pressure, which occur as the differential pressure increases across the carbon in the columns. Our technical expert collaborated with WRc to specify Masterflex Digital Drive Gear Pumps for thee GAC test rig. Gear pumps proved to be the best pumping technology for the application, as they deliver smooth, pulseless, accurate, and repeatable flow. They can be run for long periods between maintenance, making them suitable for continuous duty applications. The test rig simulates GAC performance spanning one to two years at full scale by operating it in a period of two to three weeks at a small scale. Due to an increasing demand for these tests, WRc recently expanded the original test facility, adding four more rigs. Robert Camm, WRc’s Laboratory Manager, said, “When we started planning to expand our test rig we chose Masterflex gear pump systems as previous Masterflex gear pump systems have provided excellent performance and reliability.”