Project

Stock Pump Impeller Efficiency Restoration

Eroded stock pump impeller and casing rebuilt and coated back to a smooth hydraulic surface to recover lost flow.

The challenge

What was failing

A stock pump moves an abrasive fiber slurry that wears the impeller and the casing from the inside out. As the metal roughens and erodes, the once-smooth vane and volute surfaces turn into a coarse drag on the flow, and the pump pushes less stock for the same energy in. The plant feels it as lost flow on the line and a pump that runs harder to keep up. Left alone, the surface keeps degrading and the unit eventually has to come out of the rotating spares pool.

Stock pump disassembled and refurbished in the AAS shop
Our approach

How AAS approaches it

We pull the pump into the shop and assess where the slurry has worn the impeller vanes, the wear faces, and the casing. We grit-blast those areas back to clean, profiled metal, then rebuild the eroded sections cold with Belzona 1000 Series composites so the steel sees no heat distortion. Once the profile is back, we apply a smooth erosion-resistant coating over the impeller and the casing flow path. That gives the slurry a low-friction surface to move across, restoring the hydraulic surface the pump lost to wear.

Assess and map

We inspect the impeller, wear faces, and casing and map where the abrasive stock has eroded and roughened the metal.

Grit-blast prep

We grit-blast the worn surfaces back to clean, profiled metal so the rebuild and coating bond to bare substrate.

Cold metal rebuild

We rebuild the eroded impeller vanes, wear faces, and casing with Belzona 1000 Series composites, working cold with no heat distortion.

Erosion-resistant coating

We apply a smooth erosion-resistant coating over the impeller and casing flow path to recover the hydraulic surface.

Return to service

We finish the surfaces smooth and return the pump to the plant's rotating spares pool ready for the slurry.

What you get back

The result

Eroded impeller and casing rebuilt in place rather than replaced
Smooth, low-friction hydraulic surface restored across the flow path
Erosion-resistant coating applied to stand up to the abrasive stock slurry
Work completed by factory-trained and factory-certified Belzona applicators
In the field

From the job

Repair and protection work of this kind, performed by AAS crews across Louisiana.

Capabilities used here

Where this work happens

24-hour on-call service

Have equipment that needs to stay in service?

Tell us what is failing. We respond quickly, and we offer 24-hour on-call service.

Call (225) 751-1930