New pump and seal innovations slash repair and maintenance costs

In demanding industrial applications, durable and reliable pumps are essential. But when maintenance and repair costs spiral out of control, it's a clear signal that better alternatives need to be explored.

Take titanium dioxide, for example. This highly abrasive slurry—valued for its brilliant white pigment in consumer electronics—presents a formidable challenge for most pumps. In such cases, selecting equipment solely based on initial price can be a costly mistake. When a brand-new, high-performance pump costs less than repeated repairs, the decision to upgrade becomes simple economics.

This very scenario recently played out for a rotary lobe pump manufacturer with a strong track record in industrial Humberside and North Lincolnshire. Their low-friction, near pulsation-free pumps were already ideal for protecting sensitive titanium dioxide pigments—but could they handle the pressure demands and sealing requirements?

“With our ONIXline pumps, we knew we could comfortably manage pressures up to 16 bar,” said David Brown, Managing Director at Börger UK. “Combined with Maintenance-In-Place capabilities and no wear parts, we were confident that our pumps would drastically cut servicing and repair expenses—especially when you consider the reduction in manhours.”

Brown referenced a past installation for National Grid, where pump maintenance was not only costly but also complex. “The old units had to be winched out. You needed two fitters and had to jack up the screw pump just to cut the main rotor in half. What should’ve been routine maintenance turned into a two-and-a-half-day operation with significant health and safety implications—before you even factored in parts replacement. That kind of downtime is no longer acceptable.”
Thanks to modern advances in pump technology, such costly procedures are increasingly avoidable. A major contributor to ongoing pump expenses is the high price of replacement seals, which are often sourced from third-party manufacturers.

“There are excellent seals available,” Brown said, “but when replacements cost anywhere from £1,000 to over £2,000, it's easy to see why so many industrial firms are frustrated. That’s why we made the decision over ten years ago to design and manufacture our own seals for the ONIXline range—offering high specifications and broad compatibility, but at a significantly lower cost.”

Brown noted that many competitors continue to rely on external suppliers for seals, immediately inflating prices. “In some cases, the cost of a seal was approaching or exceeding the price of one of our complete pumps. It was clear there was a need for a better, more cost-effective solution.”
Unique Seal Performance Under Pressure and Vacuum

Börger’s seals have also broken new ground technically. “We’ve engineered our seals to handle both vacuum and pressure simultaneously—on the same seal and across the same pump,” Brown explained. “That’s a rare capability. Most seals deal with either vacuum or pressure at the interface, not both. It’s a truly innovative design, and demand has been strong.”

Nearby the titanium dioxide plant, Börger has also supplied pumps to a major water treatment facility and a refinery, where one application involved pumping a fluid with 50% solid content at 14.5 bar and 70°C. Maintaining performance under high internal temperatures while staying within ATEX-specified external temperature limits was a major engineering challenge that Börger successfully met.

Compact Design, Simple Maintenance
“For the titanium dioxide processing plant,” Brown concluded, “maintenance is now vastly simpler. The pump head can be removed and serviced using just basic tools. The system takes up much less space and has a far smaller footprint than what was there before. It goes to show even for the toughest pumping tasks, you don’t need to break the bank to get reliable, high-performing equipment and seals.”