Suez chooses oil-free Danfoss APP pump to power Bahamian RO plant retrofit

Avoiding environmental risk of oil
spills in water application

When its customer, a resort in the Bahamas, needed to increase the capacity of its RO plant, it also wanted SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions to reduce any risk of oil spills that might damage the hotel’s coastal location. SUEZ replaced the existing positive displacement plunger pump with a Danfoss APP pump, whose only lubricant is the pumped medium.

SUEZ maintains hundreds of build-own-operate (BOO) plants around the world and has extensive experience in taking over much of the financial and operational risks involved in supplying fresh water for thousands of guests 24/7. When SUEZ retrofitted an existing BOO customer’s RO plant in the Bahamas, it also mitigated the environmental risk of oil spills.

The challenge:
Increase plant capacity – and eliminate any possibility of oils spills

Back in 2012, one of SUEZ’s BOO customers, a major resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, needed to increase the production capacity of its RO plant from 60,000 to 90,000 GPD.

In addition to other contract elements, the customer stated a concern that is increasingly common in environmentally sensitive coastal environments: make sure the plant is as clean as possible in general and reduce or eliminate any risk of oil spills specifically.

The solution:
Danfoss APP 24, that uses the pumped medium for lubrication

According to Gaddy Senatus, Field Service Manager at SUEZ, the company was familiar with Danfoss APP pumps from a variety of other installations worldwide and knew that axial piston technology eliminated the need for any lubricants.

“Reliability, long maintenance intervals, and energy efficiency are all critical to the success of our BOO contracts,” he says, “and Danfoss APP pumps and isave erds perform well on all of these parameters. The fact that they need no lubrication beyond the pumped medium cinched the deal, as this completely eliminates any accidents with oil lubricants on the plant site.” At the heart of the retrofit was the oil-free Danfoss APP 24 pump and the space- and energy-saving isave ERD 40.

The results:
Trouble-free, low-maintenance operations for more than five years

After installation in 2012 the plant has run for over five years without interruption of service.

“Our BOO customers expect plants to run dependably. If there are any issues, they expect us to take care of them without affecting service,” explains Senatus. “Danfoss plays an important role in meeting these expectations. Their service and training are always helpful, and product reliability is outstanding. If and when maintenance is finally necessary, we can easily handle this onsite in hours, not days.”

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For more information about SUEZ Water Technologies and Solutions, please visit: www.suezwatertechnologies.com