“We found that ANDRITZ pumps behaved extremely constant in all conditions – this gives us an additional big value for our customer.”
The technical director of FBR ELPO
Orange pumps with blue motors for the red juice
In the world-famous Italian town of Parma, the international technology Group ANDRITZ once again demonstrated its innovative strength and engineering skills. After only two years of preliminary work and numerous challenging tests, an exclusive framework agreement on the supply of centrifugal pumps was signed with FBR-ELPO, one of the most important producers of plants for tomato paste and fruit concentrate.
FBR-ELPO is a manufacturer of machines and complete lines for the processing of tomatoes and fruits and has been one of the international market leaders for over 50 years. The company has always strived for the highest quality and performance to best serve its customers. In the light of the fact that existing suppliers and their products had reached their technological limits, the Italian company was looking for a reliable partner with a global service network, top products as well as extensive experience in the area of the Industrial Internet of Things ( IIoT ).
ANDRITZ pumps for tomato paste and fruit concentrate
Why ANDRITZ?
Following brief negotiations in autumn of 2014, an agreement was reached on the basis of many discussions, factory visits and customer visits as well as careful studies of theoretic data. The aim was to determine if the single–stage centrifugal pumps from ANDRITZ’s ACP series could meet the specific demands of the production process. First, these pumps have to deal successfully with the different varieties of the incoming raw product. Furthermore, depending on weather conditions, product quality can vary and this, of course, affects its media properties. So plants and pumps have to work under different conditions in the production process and are confronted with totally different media behavior and data.
“We found that ANDRITZ pumps behaved extremely constant in all conditions – this gives us an additional big value for our customer.”
Based on the preliminary discussions, the decision was made to first test the ACP pumps in the tomato paste and juice concentrate production. Therefore, the first test pump was installed in a plant in Egypt. Due to the successful test, an exclusive framework agreement for the supply of centrifugal pumps was signed in spring 2016. After this other pumps were installed in a plant in Algeria and in another plant in Egypt.
Dynamic success
With a flow rate of up to 3,000 m³ / h, the pumps used do not only operate significantly above the industrial average, but also already offer all the devices to be remotely serviced and operated by IIoT applications. This enables further optimization of production efficiency, realization of the lowest energy consumption and an early recognition of faults or power decreases.
The single-stage centrifugal pumps from the ACP series with fluidizer is used in tomato production in a stainless steel version in order to process a concentrate with 30 ° Brix and a viscosity of 400 mm² / s. The machine must withstand an average temperature of 80 ° C permanently at a concentrate density of at least 1,100 kg / m³.
