How often do you stop to consider the humble life of a pump? Hidden from sight, millions of pumps operate around the clock to help deliver the comforts people expect in everyday life, protect cities from flooding and keep industry running smoothly.
Here, we explore some of the ways in which pumps keep the world in motion.
They help deal with flooding
As climate change takes a hold and sea levels rise, flooding is becoming the fastest growing cause of natural disaster. In the past decade it has affected one in seven people on the planet and has caused $319bn in damages. Inland disasters caused by rivers overflowing, groundwater flooding or flash floods are also becoming more prevalent. So how do pumps help keep our cities dry? Pumps are used to direct water via a series of pumping stations from rivers safely back out to sea. These pumps can deal with substantial amounts of water, up to 34,000m3 per hour, regulating the flow in a controlled way in order to reduce flood risk. Similarly, in urban areas, pumps are used to pump water from storm retention tanks into wastewater systems. Using sophisticated computer modelling techniques, flood prevention teams can explore potential scenarios virtually and use this information to invest in the optimal pumping solutions for their city.
They transport and treat waste water
Treating waste water effectively is vital to sustaining human life. 2.5bn people worldwide lack access to adequate sanitationand nearly 2,000 children under the age of five die from water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases daily. The first step in ridding communities of waste water is transporting it away to be treated. In cities and suburban areas where there is a continuous flow of waste water, efficient pumps help to channel the water in a controlled way through pumping stations and networks, and onward to the water treatment plant. There, pumps play a central role in moving water between the different structures, where it is treated using mechanical, biological and chemical techniques to remove all impurities. Pumps are also used to dispense precise measures of chemicals. With pumps in place throughout the process, plant owners gain the confidence to treat water in a reliable, safe and cost-effective way and discharge the treated water back into the water system.
They heat and cool buildings
Pumps play a fundamental role in heating and cooling today’s commercial buildings. A water-based heating and cooling system simply wouldn’t function without one. In the case of heating, the pumps pressurise the water in the pipes, keeping it circulating efficiently throughout the building, distributing heat to every radiator or under-floor heater. To cool buildings, pumps help channel energy away to on-site or nearby cooling towers. The hot water can then be evaporated. Increasingly, as businesses seek to save energy and improve energy efficiency, companies are exploring the potential of storing surplus heat in the ground, ready to heat their buildings in winter. By using pumps with built-in energy meters, companies can also optimise energy flows through their buildings. The meters communicate with the company’s building management system, allowing businesses to identify hotspots and take action to generate energy and cost savings.
They keep drinking water clean
Of all the water on Earth, just 2.5% is fresh water, and only a tiny fraction of fresh water is drinkable. The rest has already been used or polluted as a result of human activity – from industrial waste to incorrectly treated sewage and waste water – and needs to be treated before we can drink it. Some 750m people in developing countries still lack access to safe water. In the developed world, people often take drinkable tap water for granted. However, if there were no pumps in place to help expel bacteria from the water, the health implications would be catastrophic. People would rapidly be exposed to illness, including gastrointestinal illness, reproductive problems, and neurological disorders. Pumps at drinking water treatment plants are integral to the disinfection process. They are used to dispense bacteria-killing chemicals into the water at a carefully controlled rate. Using automated disinfection systems with remotely controlled pumps, the water utility can monitor their use of chemicals safely and precisely, in order to minimise damage to the environment and save costs. Once the water is clean, multiple pumps help to distribute it to homes, businesses and factories across the country.
They optimise efficiency at biofuel plants
Like any factory, biofuel plants need reliable systems to respond to demand in an efficient and cost-effective way. A typical biofuel plant might use up to 300 pumps across multiple processes. For example, pumps are used throughout the fermentation, distillation and evaporation processes in the production of bioethanol. The pumps transport the liquid from one stage to the next, with plant managers able to monitor and control the pumps remotely to improve efficiency and keep the plant running safely. In particular, since pumps can account for up to 20% of electrical energy used in the plant, there is a significant opportunity to cut energy use by deploying the pumps more effectively. Finally, another important aspect when dealing with biofuels is that pumps must be highly durable and resistant to diverse chemicals and liquids of different viscosities and temperatures.
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