Progressing Cavity Pump Solves Long-Term Dairy Product Pumping Problem

By Pete Ciorrocco, Business Field Manager, NETZSCH Pumps North America

For a major, Wisconsin-based dairy products company, a progressing cavity pump handled the difficult task of transferring sweetened condensed milk out of flash coolers — solving a 25-year-old pumping problem. The NEMO pump provided by NETZSCH features a flexible rod design that eliminates the need for lubrication and protection against mechanical damage or corrosion. Since its installation, the pump has significantly reduced pump downtime, resulting in time, labor, and money savings.

Sticky Pumping Issue Stumps Dairy Products Company
The country’s largest producer of sweetened condensed milk had endured decades of issues associated with pumping the mixture of milk and sugar — the primary components of sweetened condensed milk — out of two flash coolers near the end of the manufacturing process.

The application includes pumping the mixture of milk and sugar ranging from 1500 to 5000 centipoise (CP). Pumping is conducted at about 40 gallons per minute (GPM), pulling from two vessels under vacuum (24-inches and 28-inches). The pump had to maintain pressures of 150 pounds per square inch (PSI) with operational temperatures of 70 to 120 F. Cleaning in place (CIP) is conducted at 50 GPM, pulling from the vessels 2 to 26-inches with a vacuum of 20 PSI, using a caustic of 6 percent and nitric acid of 3 percent.

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