Hi everyone,
In my previous post, I talked about four consequences that could be taken into account to use fertile soils that were unused until now. It this post, I want to zoom into one of these four points namely:
- integration of appropriate technologies when, for example, wastewater from industrial food processing be treated and re-utilized for irrigation purposes.
One of the companies actively investigating the use of ram pumps for this purpose is “EMS industries” located in England (EMS Industries, 2015).
First, the sludge should be separated into water and grit. This can be done by solid separator. This machine splits waste water in clear water and sludge. The principle is explained in the following picture.
Afterwards both the water and the sludge should be transported. For the sludge EMS has designed a ram pump that’s able to pump away this substance. EMS produces 3 ram pumps especially for the use of sludge. Sludge is often very dense and therefore it’s difficult to pump with traditional pumps because they all become constipated and require a lot of maintenance. The ram pumps themselves work on the same principle as a regular ram pump but are driven with a hydraulic press to be able to suck the sludge. Several case studies were done to prove the feasibility of the pumps. They showed that for the use of sludge, the ram pump is superior over other technologies which were previously used.
The clean water can be used for irrigation again. But the water has to be distributed to several locations again. Depending on the location of the waste water producer and the client, ram pump could or could not be used. For instance, if the distance is too long compared with the supply head, the ram pump will not be able to produce sufficient delivery head. In this case another transportation method should be used.
We see the ram pumps can come in at two places to obtain the goal we set at the beginning of the post. Therefore it seems to me that the ram pump is a good technology to implement. Especially because they require low maintenance costs so a stable water supply is guaranteed.
Do you agree with me on this topic or do you think there are better alternatives to reach the stated objective?
Greetings,
Lauren
Bibliografy
EMS Industries. (2015, February 15). EMS Industries. Taken From van emsgb: http://www.emsgb.com/index.html
Humasol hydraulic ram pump thesis 
Hi Lauren,
It sounds like a good idea. Did you found a case where they actually are using this principle because you are talking about “actively investigating the use ” and “several studies have shown” but are they being used in practice ?
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Hi Sven,
Thank you for the reaction. On the following page, you can find some cases where they actually used ram pumps (with succes) in replacing regular pumps.
http://www.emsgb.com/case_studies.html
Kind regards,
Lauren
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Hi Lauren,
The ram pump looks like the right technology to implement! But I was wondering which other transportation methods could be used? Other pumps or something really different of which I’m not aware existing?
Greets,
Maxim
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Hi Maxim,
This mainly depends on the situation. Sometimes gravity is enough to distribute the water. Other times pumps are necessary and there the situation is important again. This decides whether to use a solar pump, ram pump, electrical pump or diesel pump. Maybe other systems are possible to, but I’m not aware of these kind of systems yet.
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