Pumping peanut butter made easy using MasoSine SPS200

Faced with a failing progressive cavity pump when trying to transfer peanut butter from the grinder to a holding tank, a food plant in Pretoria, South Africa, has found a more reliable and cost-effective solution in a MasoSine SPS200 process pump from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group.

Selected, among other factors, for its viscous pumping ability, the MasoSine SPS200 features a sinusoidal rotor that delivers a lower shear, gentle pumping action that safely transfers delicate products without risk of degradation. This is in contrast to the PC pump deployed previously, which battled to pump the high viscosity of peanut butter, while the dry running due to inconsistent feed between the grinder and the hopper led to reduced suction.

The SPS200 was installed in April 2014 and was immediately set to work pumping 250,000 cP viscosity peanut butter at a rate of 1000 L/h (85°C, against ±9 bar).

MasoSine SPS pumps are suitable for a multitude of applications up to 15 bar pressure and 99,000 L/h flow rate. Products with viscosities up to 8 million cP can be transferred with powerful suction.

Capable of handling soft solids up to 60 mm, the pumps are able to deliver a constant feed of whole foods, meats, confectionery, dairy products and concentrates.

To date, the Pretoria peanut butter plant reports that the MasoSine SPS200 has been pumping successfully with minimum downtime and has offered considerable savings in maintenance costs compared with the progressive cavity pump. This is due to the pump’s simple design, with one shaft, one rotor, one seal and no timing gears.

Maintenance and cleaning of the SPS200 takes just minutes and can be performed in-situ by a line operative (or by a CIP process, if required).

The SPS200 runs intermittently to pump circa 5 tons of peanut butter to the holding tank every day.