KZN Pump Discharges Heavy Sand and Gravel Slurry, Keeps Roads Open at Cement Plant

At its Pennsuco operation near Miami, Titan Florida Cement and Aggregatesa unit of Titan America LLCoperates the largest cement facility in Florida and the fifth-largest quarry in the United States. Annual cement production at the Pennsuco plant exceeds 1.8 million tons, and the quarry produces more than 7.5 million tons of limestone products a year. The plant produces bulk and bagged cement and aggregate products that are sold to public and private construction markets.

For many years, the Pennsuco plant used belt-driven Gallagher/Ash pumps to keep the runoff pond at the proper level. However, the pumps were expensive and difficult to maintain, as there were long lead times for parts; furthermore, the parts themselves were expensive.

Working with Barney’s Pumps in Coral Springs, Florida, engineers at the plant purchased a KZN110 heavy-duty submersible slurry pump from BJM Pumps (USA). The pump is especially designed for pumping heavy slurries containing lime, mill scale, coal, ash, silt, food waste or sand and gravel. Its key components are made of high-chrome iron to resist abrasion, and the pump features an agitator that puts heavy solids into suspension so they can be pumped away with the liquid. Titan Florida Cement and Aggregates later purchased a second KZN110, and the two KZNs have been running reliably at Pennsuco for more than three years. The Gallagher/Ash pumps are now stored for backup use only.