air lift mud pump in stock

If you are supplying pump supplies, you can find the most favorable prices at Alibaba.com. Whether you will be working with piston type or diaphragm type systems, reciprocating or centrifugal, Alibaba.com has everything you need. You can also shop for different sizes air lift pump wholesale for your metering applications. If you operate a construction site, then you could need to find some concrete pump solutions that you can find at affordable rates at Alibaba.com. Visit the platform and browse through the collection of submersible and inline pump system, among other replaceable models.

A air lift pump comes in different makes and sizes, and you buy the tool depending on the application. The pump used by a filling station is not the one you use to fill up your tanks. There are high flow rate low pressure systems used to transfer fluids axially. On the other hand, you can go with radial ones dealing with a low flow rate and high-pressure fluid. The mixed flow pump variety combines radial and axial transfer mechanisms and works with medium flow and pressure fluids. Depending on what it will be pumping, you can then choose the air lift pump of choice from the collection at Alibaba.com.

Alibaba.com has been an excellent wholesale supplier of air lift pump for years. The supply consists of a vast number of brands to choose from, comes in different sizes, operations, and power sources. You can get a pump for residential and large commercial applications from the collection. Whether you want a water pump for your home, or run a repair and maintenance business, and need a supply of air lif pump, you can find the product you want from the vast collection at Alibaba.com.therther it is for refrigeration, air conditioning, transfer, or a simple car wash business, anything you want, Alibaba.com has it.

The pumps PM are made of corrosion-proof materials conforming to conditions for conveying potable water (GENOVA system). During air flow cut-off the pump’s construction provides separation of the supply system from the media pumping zone by means of a diaphgram perforated valve, closed by hydrostatic pressure.

The pumps are highly reliable and easy to assemble owing to the use of PVC hose as an intake end. The hose can be formed depending on the shape of the tank.

The capasities of the pumps (specyfied in laboratory conditions for clean water and constant depth Hz=1,5 m) are presented in the diagram showing the dependance of air demand supplied to the pump on the lifting height “H” of the medium being pumped (see data sent by fax).

The capasity of PM 110, at immersion depth Hz= 4m, is 15-20m3 (at H=0,5 m). The pumps can operate in a complex system allowing for multiplication of capasity. The lenghts of ends, intake L2 and exhaust L1, and air supply hose are specyfied by the buyer. We suggest the purchase of the very “heart” for individual assembly.

FloNergia"s FloMov family of pumps are designed specifically for Aquaculture, Aquaponics and Hydroponics applications. They offer a well-engineered dual injector airlift pump solution that uses significantly less energy than conventional centrifugal pumps.

With a wide range of ready available sizes, these pumps serve the need of producers large and small.  Custom design solutions are available for an even wider variety of applications and sizes.

By Clifford E. Jones – There is no reason to pay a lot of money for a water pump when this DIY airlift pump design will do all you want. The cost is very low. The materials list is for a 100-foot well; adjust this to meet your well depth.

To start, you will need to remove the well cap. If damaged, build or buy a new one. Keep the well clean. Put four holes in the well cap. (Illustration 1.) Two holes for vents, one for the 1 ¼” discharge pipe, and one for the ½ air pipe. Screen the vents.

The discharge pipe is 1 1/4” diameter, the air pipe is 1/2“ diameter. Use adhesive and two small stainless steel screws at each connection. Make the 1-1/4” pipe the same length as the well depth. Put the end furthest from the well through the hole you made in the well cap and have it protrude out past the well cap enough to reach over your barrel top. (See illustration 2).

Now put the 1-1/4” clamp on top of the well cap. This will eventually keep the pump from dropping down the well, so make it tight and be sure it won’t slip down the hole in the well cap. Next, make the ½” line. Starting at the bottom, put on two 90 degree elbows and a 30” piece of pipe and insert it up into the 1-1-4” pipe and clamp both pipes together (Illustration 3).

Now hook up the two elbows on the 1-1/4” pipe, putting a piece of pipe over to your barrel and a short piece to point down into the barrel. Don’t poke the end of the discharge pipe into the barrel. The air needs to escape.

What is happening here is air is pumped down the small pipe and released into the larger pipe forming bubbles which rise and capture the water and bring it to the top.

You may not have a large well and can get by with a ¾” discharge pipe and a 1/4” air line. Just don’t block the bottom of the large pipe with the small one. Leave room for the water to enter.

This article wouldn’t be complete without something on the air compressor. The main effort is to put some air down the small line that is only blocked by water. Any compressor capable of pumping up an auto tire will do. Air volume is more important than great pressure. I used an automobile air conditioner pump with great success but it did pump oil, and that isn’t good. Get yourself a good air compressor.

This airlift pump design may seem like a poor man’s pump, but there are some advantages over other pumps. It won’t freeze; you can do it yourself; any servicing is done at the compressor and not down the well; and if you just happen to live past the power company, you can still have the water and not cost you an arm and a leg.

An airlift pump is a pump that has low suction and moderate discharge of liquid and entrained solids. The pump injects compressed air at the bottom of the discharge pipe which is immersed in the liquid. The compressed air mixes with the liquid causing the air-water mixture to be less dense than the rest of the liquid around it and therefore is displaced upwards through the discharge pipe by the surrounding liquid of higher density. Solids may be entrained in the flow and if small enough to fit through the pipe, will be discharged with the rest of the flow at a shallower depth or above the surface. Airlift pumps are widely used in aquaculture to pump, circulate and aerate water in closed, recirculating systems and ponds. Other applications include dredging, underwater archaeology, salvage operations and collection of scientific specimens.

The only energy required is provided by compressed air.compressor or a blower. The air is injected in the lower part of a pipe that transports a liquid. By buoyancy the air, which has a lower density than the liquid, rises quickly. By fluid pressure, the liquid is taken in the ascendant air flow and moves in the same direction as the air. The calculation of the volume flow of the liquid is possible thanks to the physics of two-phase flow.

Airlift pumps are often used in deep dirty wells where sand would quickly abrade mechanical parts. (The compressor is on the surface and no mechanical parts are needed in the well). However airlift wells must be much deeper than the water table to allow for submergence. Air is generally pumped at least as deep under the water as the water is to be lifted. (If the water table is 50 ft below, the air should be pumped 100 feet deep). It is also sometimes used in part of the process on a wastewater treatment plant if a small head is required (typically around 1 foot head).

The liquid is not in contact with any mechanical elements. Therefore, neither the pump can be abraded (which is important for sandwater wells), nor the contents in the pipe (which is important for archeological research in the sea).

Cost: while in some specific cases the operational cost can be manageable, most of the time the quantity of compressed air, and thus the energy required, is high compared to the liquid flow produced.

Conventional airlift pumps have a flow rate that is very limited. The pump is either on or off. It is very difficult to get a wide range of proportional flow control by varying the volume of compressed air. This is a dramatic disadvantage in some parts of a small wastewater treatment plant, such as the aerator.

this pumping system is suitable only if the head is relatively low. If one wants to obtain a high head, one has to choose a conventional pumping system.

because of the principle, air (oxygen) dissolves in the liquid. In certain cases, this can be problematic, as, for example, in a waste water treatment plant, before an anaerobic basin.

A recent (2007) variant called the "geyser pump" can pump with greater suction and less air. It also pumps proportionally to the air flow, permitting use in processes that require varying controlled flows. It arranges to store up the air, and release it in large bubbles that seal to the lift pipe, raising slugs of fluid.

"Airlift calculation by Sanitaire (pdf document)" (PDF). sanitaire.com. 2012-01-05. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2022-06-25.link)

According to relevant research, it is clear that for a traditional mud pump, there will be blockage and wear during the dredging process because the flow cross-section of the blade is so large that its concentration is limited. Compressed air serves as the power source for air transportation, which can pump and transport liquid or mud through the combination of buoyancy, friction, and vacuum effects (Fu and Yan, 2004; Pei and Liao, 2010). To the best of our knowledge, the airlift system has many advantages, such as low cost, easy operation, simple configuration, no pollution to the environment, and less blockage (Chen et al., 2009; Pei and Tang, 2015). Therefore, it can be considered that the air transportation system has great potential for river and lake dredging.

Many scholars have carried out research, such as numerical simulation of the mixed fluid in the airlift system and analysis of the relationship between the injection parameter and the performance so that it has a higher matching, and thus, the performance of mud airlift is improved. Huang et al. (2017) performed a numerical simulation to study the effect of the nozzle type, injection depth, and injection hole diameter on the airlift pump, thereby improving the performance of the airlift pump. Alasadi and Habeeb (2017) then performed a numerical simulation study on the airlift pump with traditional and improved air injection devices under different intake flow rates, and the results show that the airlift pump with an improved air injection device can improve performance at higher intake flow rates. In actual operation, sufficient attention should be paid to the critical point of the solid particles carried in the bottom layer. If this is not given, it will cause blockage in the pump which will affect the performance and cause safety accidents in severe cases. When researchers study critical characteristics, they are mainly conducted from the perspective of experiments and rarely involve theoretical models. Taleb and Al-Jarrah (2017) performed an experiment to study the effect of the submergence ratio and air injection hole diameter on the performance of the airlift pump. The results showed that the performance of the airlift pump increased as the submergence ratio increased, while an injection hole diameter of 4 mm gave the highest performance. Oueslati A performed an experiment under many operating conditions, and proposed a theoretical model taking into account the air humidification and liquid temperature. The results showed that the proposed model is in good agreement with the experimental results. Fujimoto and Murakami studied the critical conditions of a mud airlift pump and obtained a model of the critical water flow rate for lifting solid particles at the bottom of the pump. By using this model, results that are consistent with reality can be obtained (Fujimoto et al., 2004). On this basis, our research team expanded the suction distance and obtained the rule of critical particle detonation. It needs to be clear that the aforementioned studies are only for water–solid two-phase flow (Tang et al., 2012). Fujimoto and Nagatani then used the aforementioned working conditions to analyze the critical conditions of particles transported in the three-phase flow. The research results show that in the three-phase flow, the starting of particles is easier, but the corresponding theoretical model is not proved (Fujimoto et al., 2005). In application, because of the constraint pressure (Pei et al., 2010; Hu et al., 2013), the particles are often compressed when they are deposited at the bottom, which makes it difficult to start the particles. At the same time, the airlift is caused to fail, but scholars rarely conduct research on this aspect.

In this study, the research is carried out. The interface selects the inlet of the airlift pump to divide the mixed water into two fluid phases, one is a water–solid two-phase flow, and the other is a gas–water–solid three-phase flow. To satisfy the actual dredging, the medium used in this study is round river sand. Based on this, the critical conditions of the three-phase flow and two-phase flow are analyzed, and the relationship between the key condition and chip compaction is analyzed. For discussion, the research result of this study can provide a reference for other researchers to study related theories.

Because the volume fraction of the solid flow cannot be calculated in the calculation, the mixed water can be regarded as a gas–water two-phase flow. On the basis of full research and analysis of the research results of Tang et al. (2012), the volume fraction of airflow can be clarified.

Figure 3 shows the calculation results of the key model, where calculated JG is equal to JG,cri. It is clear that in the water–solid two-phase flow, the critical water flow rate does not change. Therefore, JL,LS,cri ≥ JL,3,cri can be obtained. Based on this, it is possible to clarify that the condition under which the particles are lifted smoothly from the beginning of the entire flow is JL ≥ JL,LS,cri, and it will affect the critical starting condition of the particles. Based on the existence of air expansion, the mixed fluid in the gas–water–solid three-phase flow has a lower density, so JL,3,cri is smaller than JL,LS,cri, compared with the water–solid two-phase flow. Therefore, it is clear that to make the start of the particles easier, the length of the two-phase flow should be reduced. This conclusion is consistent with that of other researchers, that is, the performance of air transport can be improved by moving the intake position downward (Hattaa et al., 1998; Mahrous, 2013).

Analyzing Figure 3, it is clear that when JG,cri is increased, JL,3,cri will be reduced. After reaching the inflection point, JL,3,cri will decrease as JG,cri decreases. Therefore, by increasing JG,cri, the density of the mixed fluid can be reduced, so that the start of the particles becomes easier. Near the inflection point, because the gas value is large, the movement of the particles is mainly controlled by the water phase. From this, it can be clear that the performance of the airlift will be affected by working conditions, and it is necessary to reduce the air mass and then change the flow pattern in the tube, so that it can change from circular flow to elastic flow. It needs to be clear that this change is irreversible, that is, after reaching the inflection point, JL,3,cri will decrease with the decrease of JG,cri. According to the related research results (Hanafizadeh et al., 2011; Tang et al., 2016), the critical airlift of mud is opposite to the existence of the inflection point. In engineering applications, the inflection point needs to be moved down as much as possible. Comparing and analyzing the critical strength of particles with different diameters can be clear (Figure 3A). When the particle diameter is increased, JL,LS,cri and JL,3,cri will rise accordingly. The reason for this phenomenon is that increasing the particle diameter will increase the solid phase slip. In Figure 3B, it is clear that when the particle density increases, JL,LS,cri and JL,3,cri will rise accordingly. The reason for this phenomenon is that increasing the average density of the mixed water will reduce buoyancy. In addition, when increasing the particle density and diameter, the inflection point will move to the right (Kassab et al., 2007).

In the aforementioned model, particles need to be placed in the tube. However, in practical application, the particles will first deposit at the bottom of the water, and then they will be affected by the static chip retention effect. Obviously, the working conditions are different from those assumed by previous research. To be consistent with the practical situation, the research object selected in this study is particle B which is closest to the bottom of the pump. Figure 4 shows the force acting on particle B.

The instantaneous rate, at the moment when the particle is lifted, can still be regarded as zero. We get uS =0 and duS/dt=0. Then, the critical water flow rate uL can be calculated by Eq. 23.

Since only single particle movement is considered during lifting, the volume fraction of the solid in the tube can be ignored, and the immersion ratio γ = L3/L1 is introduced, then Eq. 23 leads to

Compared with the critical water flow model[30] we constructed, it is clear that in this model, we only consider the static chip retention force (static chip retention effect) of the particles, which is in line with the actual engineering. Using the relevant parameters shown in Table 2 to calculate, the results of the model can be clarified (Figure 5). It is clear that with the increase of particle diameter dS and density ρS, the JL,LS,cri only shows a slight upward. On the contrary, when the immersion rate γ is continuously increased, JL,LS,cri will be significantly increased. If the particle density and size are smaller, then the immersion rate γ will control the start of the particle. Analyzing Figure 5, it can be clear that if the static chip retention effect is maintained, JL,LS,cri will be increased quickly. It is concluded that for small and medium particles, the airlift performance will be affected by the static chip retention effect.

It can be considered that in areas such as oceans and lakes, because of their greater depth, the particles have a larger static chip retention force, which causes the start to fail. If the particles are compacted, then it will prevent airlift dredging. Therefore, it is necessary to impact the sand layer before airlift, so that the static chip retention effect can be reduced.

Through the aforementioned theoretical model analysis, it can be concluded that particles are easier to start in the gas–liquid–solid three-phase flow than in the liquid–solid two-phase flow. To verify this theory, critical experiments are carried out in two-phase flow tubes and three-phase flow tubes with river sand particles as the lifting medium, as shown in Figure 6.

First, the bracket is placed 5 mm from the entrance so that it is in the center of the tube. Second, particles are placed in the center of the tube to adjust the immersion depth so that the immersion rate can match the preset value. Third, the valve of the air compressor is slowly opened to allow the airflow to rise slowly. When the water at the outlet of the tube overflows, the valve is immediately closed. At this time, the critical water flow rate of the lifting solid JG,L,3,Cri can be calculated. While increasing the air volume, the distance between the particles and the support frame will gradually increase. At this time, the critical water flow rate JL,3,Cri and the corresponding air volume value JG,S,3,Cri can be calculated. In the two-phase flow experiment, a bracket is placed 5 mm below the air inlet, and the particles are placed on the support frame. Under this condition, the critical values JG,L, LS,Cri, JG,S,LS,Cri, and JL,LS,Cri of the two-phase flow are recalculated. Table 3 shows the calculation results.

If the immersion rate does not change, there is no significant difference between the critical values JG,L,LS,Cri of the two-phase flow and the critical values JG,L,3,Cri of the three-phase flow. When the immersion rate is equal to 0.8 and 0.3, respectively, the critical value of JG,L,LS,Cri and JG,L,3,Cri are approximately equal to 0.012 m/s and 0.019 m/s, respectively. Therefore, it can be considered that the key characteristics of the water–gas lift will not be affected by the position of the particles in the tube or the size of the particles. However, it needs to be clear that there are differences between the key characteristics of a slurry water–gas lift and the key characteristics of a gas lift. Compared with JG,S,LS,Cri of the corresponding particles in the two-phase flow, the critical air value of the particles in the three-phase flow, JG,S,3,Cri, is significantly lower, and when the temperature is increased, it will increase accordingly. Analyzing Table 3 shows that under the established conditions, compared with JL,LS,Cri, JL,3,Cri are always lower. Therefore, it can be considered that the water–solid two-phase flow has a greater impact on the critical characteristics of air transportation.

Comparing the experimental results and the calculated results, it is clear (as shown in Figure 7) that the experimental value of the critical water flow rate for lifting the solid is lower than that of the calculation result when only lifting the particles. This situation occurs because the tube and the pump will coalesce, expand, rupture, and re-aggregate. The bubbles will move periodically, causing mixed fluid instability along the axial direction when it rises. Ascending, its oscillation characteristic is ascending-descending-ascending, and compared with descending motion, the ascending motion is more intense. According to the results of other researchers and ours, it can be inferred (Hu et al., 2012; Hu et al., 2015) that the basic feature of a slurry airlift is the oscillating upward motion of the mixed fluid, which will cause a transient vacuum, so there will be resistance. If the particle’s fluctuation reaches its peak, then the particle’s activation state can be advanced. Figure 7 also shows that if the immersion rate is lower, the mixed fluid will have more prominent oscillation characteristics, which will result in a higher instantaneous vacuum. To confirm these phenomena, high-speed cameras can be used.

Due to the effect of gravity, the particles will be affected by the static chip retention effect when they are deposited at the bottom of the water. When we are conducting research, we put sand particles on the bottom of the pump in advance (Figure 4). At this time, the sand will be closely arranged and in a double-stacked state. To maintain the static chip retention effect, the particles need to be placed in the water continuously for 7 days. Then we adjusted the water tank and preset the immersion rate. The particles in the center of the upper layer are the object, and the key experimental steps are repeated. Based on this, we can get JG, L, LS, Cri, JG, S, LS, Cri, and JL, LS, Cri. The research results show that the particles cannot start when the air compressor valve is adjusted from close to the maximum gas flow. Therefore, it can be considered that the static chip retention effect is obvious at the bottom. Even if the pump has a large water value and the resistance imposed on the particles is small, the static chip retention force cannot be overcome, thus making it impossible to carry out an airlift. To clarify the experimental results of JL,LS,Cri, we connected the outlet of the airlift pump to a high-power centrifugal pump. Table 4 shows the comparison results of theoretical and experimental critical values. Research on the table can be clear, and the calculation results show that the experimental results of JL,LS,Cri are low. Therefore, it can be considered that the fluctuation of water flow and surface defects between adjacent particles (Figure 4) will reduce the compactness, which finally weakens the static retention effect of the chips. Therefore, it can be considered that as long as the static chip retention effect exists, it will affect air transportation, so it is necessary to take measures to eliminate it.

In this study, river sand particles were used as the lifting medium. Based on the static chip retention effect, the critical characteristics of liquid–solid two–phase flow and gas–liquid–solid three-phase flow are explored. The following conclusions can be drawn:

2) In a water-solid two-phase flow, the physical properties of the water and particles will affect the critical water rate. However, in the gas–water–solid three-phase flow, not only will the physical properties of water and particles affect the critical water rate but so will the air rate. Before the inflection point, as the air critical flow increases, the water flow will decrease. After the inflection point, as the air critical flow increases, the water flow will increase. In addition, the existence of the inflection point is not conducive to airlift.

3) On the basis of the constant immersion rate, the critical air rate of the fluid discharged to the pipe outlet is roughly the same. The physical properties of the particles will affect the corresponding water rate and critical air value. In the three-phase gas–water–solid flow, the start of the particles can be easier.

4) When there is a static chip retention effect under water, it is necessary to use auxiliary methods to impact the particle layer or to increase the resistance of the particles, otherwise, it will not be conducive to airlift.

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Using compressed air is one such well development method. Most of today’s water well drill rigs come equipped with rotary screw air compressors. Reciprocating piston air compressors have been going by the wayside dating back to the mid-1980s.

“Once you know these (rotary screw air) compressors, they’re pretty simple,” says Garth Owens, president of Drill Tech Drilling & Pump Inc. in Chino Valley, Arizona. “It’s not rocket science, but it is a precision unit.”

With approximately 15 rotary screw air compressors (two piston booster compressors) on six drill rigs or as auxiliaries on 10 pump hoists, Owens has learned the mechanical intricacies of them. He has rebuilt the compressors, changed their gear sets, and replaced them on rigs while passing along his knowledge to others in the industry.

“A lot of guys who are drilling don’t even have the right air to develop a well and they’ll throw a pump down there and just try to pump out the mud,” says Garth’s son, Nick, the manager at Drill Tech. “It destroys pumps and you’re never getting that mud wall cake off the walls behind the gravel pack to really get what the well’s producing.”

“You can drill too big of a well to where the annulus is too big, and you can’t get through the gravel pack to get the walls clean. That’s a big problem. A lot of guys think the bigger the hole they go, the more gravel the better, which isn’t necessarily good because you can never get enough annular velocity to get through the gravel pack and get that mud cake off. So, you’ve got to step back and look at the big picture of your annulus to your casing size to your gravel pack.

Today’s standard rotary screw air compressor rating is at least 900 cfm or 1000 cfm/350 psi. Thirty years ago, the standard was 450 cfm/250 psi or 600 cfm/250 psi.

For example, a 750 cfm/125 psi compressor is half the compressor of a 750 cfm/250 psi compressor because the contractor is compressing the air twice as tight. Therefore, with a 750 cfm/350 psi compressor, the contractor is compressing the air an additional 50%.

To decrease the uphole velocity of 3000 feet per minute, some contractors use drill foam to clean the well at half the amount, 1500 feet per minute. “If you’re using foam and you’re filling that void, you’re taking half of that void away,” Garth Owens says. “You’re using half the air because you’re filling that void with an artificial substance. It’s going to foam up and blow out and then it’s going to evaporate and go away.”

The company conducts simultaneous swab-and-airlift with its double-swabbed development tool (see right photo) or uses high-velocity horizontal jetting.

The double-swabbed tool has perforations between the two swabs. Airlifting typically occurs through the drill pipe “from which the development swabs are suspended, so as the swabbing action brings suspended solids into the well, they are purged by the simultaneous airlift system,” writes Marvin F. Glotfelty, RG, in his book, The Art of Water Wells.

“The air comes out of the end of the drill pipe, comes up and hits that rubber swab which is the same diameter as the casing,” Garth Owens says, “and therefore all that air has to go out the perforations, blows into the gravel pack, spins that around in there, and cleans the gravel pack and cleans the borehole. Then the water comes up through the gravel pack and comes back to the perforations above your swab and comes out the top of the well.”

“We’ll actually create a vacuum and pull it between sections there,” Nick Owens says. “That’s why there’s a rubber swab above and below the holes. Typically, if you want to do an air swabber, you don’t need the rubbers because you’re just blowing it out through the perforated screen into the formation.”

The company’s high-velocity horizontal jetting tools allow it to adjust the amount of air it needs to push through them. “That way it’s blowing the air through the perforated screen, through the gravel pack, and then we’re trying to develop all that mud off there if it’s a mud hole,” Nick Owens says.

The company has an additional high-velocity jetting ball tool with approximately 20 holes each drilled to 3/16 inches around it. A high-pressure pump is used to pump freshwater down the well at 2000 psi.

“That will not only churn and turn that gravel, but it places that mud thinner all the way back to the borehole to knock off the wall cake,” Garth Owens says, “and once you’re done pressure jetting it, then you’ll come back and re-swab it and RC it all back out of there.”

Drill Tech, which had a backlog of approximately 100 wells and 30 pumps to install as of late July, stresses it all starts with the design of the well, drilling it correctly, using the right products, and not overusing polymers.

“If we’re RC drilling, we’ll mud up the top and then we’ll case the top off,” Nick Owens says. “There’s some wells out here where we live where the top 300 feet is all alluvium and there’s no water in it. We’ll mud those up, we’ll set a 300-foot surface casing, and we’ll RC drill the bottom out with just pure water because it’s just solid rock. So, we don’t use any product.

To drive home the importance of using the correct amount of product, Nick Owens recalls a large drilling company that installed two large municipal wells 10 years ago in central Arizona. It both drilled with and pumped too much polymer into the wells and was unable to get the polymer out. The wells produced 300 gpm.

“Most guys will just trip their drill pipe straight in, blow it straight up the hole, and they’re done,” he shares. “But you’ll get a lot more water out of your well, you’ll pump a lot less sand, and you’ll have a much better production well with a higher pumping level if you clean that formation out and get every bit of that mud that you put in back out again. The only way to do that is with pressure through the perforations.”

While drilling in July in California, Garth Owens also noticed large amounts of gravel being put into large diameter wells drilled using the mud rotary method. “They think that the bigger the hole is, the more gravel they put in, the better it is, which is not true. What they don’t get is the bigger the hole gets, the worse development job you can do.

“You design with maybe a 10 percent passing of sand,” he says, “and then you want to go down there and develop it until that 10 percent gets down to 0.5 percent or 0.25 percent. You want to airlift develop that until you’ve blown out everything, you’ve agitated it, washed out the gravel, washed off the wall cake, and then the ground itself and those fines come out of there.

“If you don’t do it right, you can spend three or four days pumping sand because the gravel is too coarse. You put in too coarse of a filter and the sand just keeps flowing. It takes forever, if it ever does stop. Too coarse of a sand and it’ll never stop.”

However, unlike with a reciprocating piston air compressor, Garth Owens cautions against closing the downhole valve, build maximum pressure, and jerk the valve open with a rotary screw air compressor.

“Because on a piston compressor, you just have a receiver tank that just holds air,” he says, “and you can pressure it up to 250 to 300 pounds and jerk the valve open and that big surge of air is what blows out silts and rocks when it won’t do it when steady drilling.

For years, automatic transmission fluid (ATF) was the standard for lubrication on compressors. Today, synthetic compressor oil is used because they must run at about 225 degrees to 275 degrees to vaporize the water as it sucks moisture out of the air when drilling. “It sucks all that moisture into it and it rusts up all the bearings and gears,” Garth Owens says, “so by turning the thermostat up so hot, it vaporizes and burns the condensation out of it.

“Typically, there’s three thousandths max tolerant in a screw compressor, so you really have to keep your air filters clean, your oil filters clean, and your oil good. When that tolerance starts to get loose, when you start getting a bearing wearing out or one of your screws starts wearing into the impeller of the compressor, when that tolerance starts to get loose at all, typically your oil temperatures skyrocket tremendously. It’ll run at 200 degrees for 10 years and then all of a sudden, you’re wondering why it’s running at 275 degrees and trying to cook the hoses off your rig.”

The first indication is typically losing a bearing when the oil temperature begins climbing with the tolerances getting loose. “You either have steel on steel friction, or the tolerance is so loose that after you’ve compressed this air and oil, it scoops up the air and oil and pushes it through the screw,” Garth Owens says.

“Because the tolerance is so loose, it squirts right back out of it and now you’ve built more friction, more heat, and it has to scoop it back up again. So as the screw compressor starts to go out, the volume of air starts dropping and the temperature of your oil starts increasing. Those are your first indications that when the oil temperature is coming up, you’ve got screw damage, and when your cfm of air goes down, you have damage.”

Marvin F. Glotfelty, RG, discusses various types of well development (including swab-and-airlift) and physical attributes of the well that will be impacted by the various development methods in an NGWA: Industry Connected video.

As the name suggests, dewatering pumps typically find use at mining locations, construction sites, tunnels, and other places to remove water and maintain a certain dryness level.

In a centrifugal pump, a rotating impeller sucks the air out of the hose, allowing water to reach the pump due to atmospheric pressure. In such pumps, a process of priming has to take place before actual use. For example, a new pump or a pump that has been shut off for a long time often runs out of pressure. Priming is the process of building in enough pressure in the pump by rushing water back into the pump and forcing it out.

A self-priming centrifugal pump is a specialized one. The design allows a vacuum to be created at the impeller eye to remove air from the suction line continuously. However, self-priming pumps have a suction lift limit. Hence, it is crucial to consider cavitation calculations before procuring one.

A positive displacement pump works by making trapping a fixed amount of fluid and then making it move by forcing (displacing) it into the discharge pipe. As opposed to centrifugal pumps, positive displacement pumps are constant flow machines. They can, theoretically, produce the same flow at a given speed (rpm) irrespective of the discharge pressure.

These pumps can handle highly viscous fluids. Rotary and reciprocating are two classifications of displacement pumps. While rotary pumps operate via rotation of the pumping element, reciprocating pumps use a constant back and forth motion.

The airlift pump or sump pump uses compressed air to lift water. When compressed air mixes with water, the air being lighter in density rises quickly. Due to fluid pressure, the water moves in the direction of the ascendant airflow and goes put.

Airlift pumps find a use for handling sewage, oil, or sludge in tunnels and excavation pits. The efficiency of an airlift pump depends on the submerged length (Hs) in relation to the geodetic head (Hgeo) and the airspeed difference between the fluid and air. The greater the difference, the lower the overall efficiency of the pump.

Submersible pumps have operational advantages. These pumps submerge directly into the water for immediate use, eliminating the need for priming and saving time. Submersible pumps are usually quiet, lightweight, and portable.

Their pumping action takes place without a suction pipe, and the water around helps keep the motor cool. Cavitation issues are rare. Submersible dewatering pumps are suitable for dirty water mixed with mild abrasives.

Here are a few suggestions before you buy a dewatering pump. Always remember to select a pump that is neither too small nor too large. A less than optimal pump size can flood out, while a large one would face motor heat-up issues. Pumps also face cavitation issues.

Simply put, cavitation occurs when a dewatering pump does not get a full supply of flowing water. A flooded inlet is crucial to maintain enough suction pressure. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the suction line size is equal to, or greater than, the size of the inlet port.

For your dewatering pump to perform well, it is important to know the required pressure. Every pump will have a minimum Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) requirement for continuous flow. You"ll have to compare the available NPHS (NPSHa) to the net positive suction head required (NPSHr) when selecting a dewatering pump. NPSHa must be more than NPSHr, ideally between 1-1.5 m safety margin to prevent the risk of suction cavitation.

These pumps typically operate in any position, even in partially submerged conditions. Such pumps find use in disaster or emergency applications, construction sites, and wellpoint applications for lowering groundwater levels.

A smaller dewatering pump of 5HP or even 10HP can take care of numerous applications related to construction, mining, utilities, industrial, marine, and more.

Our industrial dewatering pumps have undergone rugged construction with the finest quality components. Our pumps are available in various models from 3/4 hp to 45 hp with flows to 1800 gallons per minute and heads to 450 feet. We design and manufacture our dewatering pumps for dependable performance.

Our pumps can perform with challenging applications such as mine dewatering, power plant sumps, construction site dewatering, and industrial mill sumps. So whether you"re a contractor or a waterfront homeowner, our dewatering pumps are sure to exceed your expectations.

Piranha Pumps has been in business since 1961 as a representative for various pump manufacturers. In those years, the pumping industry was still evolving, even as newer technology started finding ways. As time went on, we found the public was missing out on various novel technological advances in pumps and dredging equipment. Piranha Pumps then transitioned into a manufacturer for pumps and now boasts an inventory of over 75 different pumps and pumping systems.

The paper presents an analysis of the tests of an airlift pump that has pumped water Qw or a mixture of water with sand Qw + Qs. The research included a determination of performance and efficiency characteristics for an airlift pump with internal diameter of the discharge pipeline d = 0.04 m equipped with a PM 50 air mixer with perforated rubber diaphragm. The tests were carried out for three lifting heights of water and a mixture of water and sand H: 0.40, 0.80, 1.20 m, with a fixed length of…Expand