An industry leading anaerobic digestion (AD) engineering company have been using AKO Pinch Valves within their waste water application. The company have extensive experience of plant design, equipment manufacture, installation and ‘operation and maintenance’ from years of working within the industry having built and maintained over 30 anaerobic digestion plants, ranging from 50 kWe to large scale facilities utilising feedstocks including energy crops, farm slurries, food, and industrial wastes.
The company have been using pinch valves within their renewable energy and waste water treatment applications for 10 years. Some of the on site engineers first noticed pinch valves on a waste water treatment works site and saw how well they were performing, and therefore introduced them to their own industrial plants.
Aggressive Waste Water Handled with Ease by the Pinch Valve
The AKO pinch valves used within this particular application are passing waste water through the internal rubber bellow/sleeve. The waste water mixture is 40 degrees C, and travelling through the pipelines at 2 BAR pressure. The pinch valve is installed on the outlet of a pump, and is held in the normally closed psoition. The rubber sleeve inside the pinch valve has a 100% leak tight seal, and opens/closes in the same position every time to prevent warping.
This plant continuously pumps the waste water around the site 24/7. The waste water contains pieces of grit and the occasional aggressive slurries – all of which are handled with no problems with the natural rubber sleeve inside the pinch valve.
Pinch Valve used within this application – VF150.03X.31.30LA plus AKO’s pressure relief system assembly
Pressure Relief Pinch Valves for Waste Water
The pinch valves have a Schrader valve, pressure gauge and manifold block installed onto the nipple of the valve body, which is a special pressure relief system. The pinch valves hold back the waste water, and if there is a blockage down-stream and the pump pressure rises, the pinch valve is pushed open by the waste water in-line to relieve the pressure of the pump. Once the blockage is removed, the line pressure resumes to the normal working pressure, and the valve for waste water closes back to it’s set pressure.
The amount of air used to close the pinch valve is checked on site every day and topped up when required.
The company’s overall satisfaction with AKO pressure release pinch valve for waste water products is very good, and there is a lot of future potential with new upcoming projects.