Sulphuric Acid Pump

Carib, The ideal pump for you would be an air operated diafram pump. These are available in a number of sizes and the speed is controled by the amount of air pressure set on the requlator. The diaframs are available in a number of materials to handle most any acid or base. These will handle your head of 25 foot with no problem. These pumps are easy to flush out or take apart, clean and reassemble. Its easy to set these pumps up to do many different jobs and handle many different materials. Check with your supplier for the many options available. Please follow up and let us know your results. Please follow the safety reguiements for the materials handled. J.Conway

Empty 50 gallon drums?! Empty into what? There seems to be a dis-economy here.

I used what was called a metering pump back in the mid-1970's, it was all plastic/nylon I think, and AC powered - no doubt double insulated. They didn't last very long as I used them for circulating acid thru heat exchanger coils to remove the lime build-up.

You may want to search the web for a chemical supply vendor, or a laboratory supply company,

Hi Carib,

An Air operated Diaphram Pump is certainly the cost effective answer.

However I'd like to also suggest a Peristaltic Style Chemical Dosing Pump (example www.stenner.com). These will allow accurate flowrate control (if needed).

As well as having a better suction lift (especially when dry, ie 25ft compared to 4 ft), I also feel they're a safer pump.

I've seen a bad accident with an Air Operated Diaphram Pump pumping 67% Sulfuric Acid. The Air movement of the diaphrams in the pump can cause significant vibration. This caused a fitting on the outlet to let go, spraying concentrated Sulfuric Acid over a wide area. One ofthe operators thought it was raining, and looked up - caught a few drops in his eyes.

Luckily someone saw it happen, had him in an eye wash station within seconds. Oddly enough, because the acid was so concentrated when it entered his eye it just sat on the surface of the eye and didn't diffuse too much. He was back at work the next day, and several years later, hasn't had any lasting effects.

This was a lucky case, but moral to the story is ...

Safety First. Sulfuric Acid is a bitch

When ordering/specifying the pump check the chemical compatability of all the wetted parts. Cole Parmer has an excellent chemical compatability database (http://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/chemcomp.asp)

Kind Regards,

Anthony

Carib, You might wish to consider a boundary layer drag pump, research "Tesla Turbo pump". They will handle nearly any material with minimal damage.

Regards Dragon

here

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?SearchText=acid+pump&Country=&CatId=0&IndexArea=product_en&ssk=y

Hey Carib,

Consider Vanton pumps (http://www.vanton.com/); they are entirely made of plastic materials and work pretty well as transfer pumps. If you need a very accurate flow, should consider a metering pump (Prominent).

What is the concentration of the H2SO4? You will have to take into account that the specific gravity of the concentrated solution (95-98%) is 1.84 (water is 1) ; Remember also that "25 ft of head" referrers to ft of water column, you should recalculate the head taking the specific gravity into account( 25 ft wc x1.84 = 46 ft);

Be especially careful with the suction head. If your pump is lifting the acid, the weight of the fluid can give you problems when the drum is almost empty and the suction pipe is longer. (Consider a foot valve with a strainer to keep the pump primed)

Make also sure you specify the correct materials for the wetted parts of pump, piping and valves.

good luck

M.