Hopper Eductors
Conveying & Mixing granular solids, powders and slurries
Hopper Eductors
The Hopper Eductor is a hopper equipped jet ejector designed to entrain and mix granular solids or slurries with liquid and discharge the mixture to a receptacle or transfer it to a desired location. Originally developed to mix drilling mud for oil industry applications, these devices have proved to be so effective and versatile that they are being applied in increasing numbers in diverse industries including the food, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, glass, water treatment, and power to name but a few. Hopper Eductors are also used extensively for ejecting sludge's from tank bottoms, for pumping sand from filter beds and for washing and conveying granular materials.
The Hopper Eductor is a hopper equipped jet ejector designed to entrain and mix granular solids or slurries with liquid and discharge the mixture to a receptacle or transfer it to a desired location. Originally developed to mix drilling mud for oil industry applications, these devices have proved to be so effective and versatile that they are being applied in increasing numbers in diverse industries including the food, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, glass, water treatment, and power to name but a few. Hopper Eductors are also used extensively for ejecting sludge's from tank bottoms, for pumping sand from filter beds and for washing and conveying granular materials.
Typical materials handled can be borax, charcoal, diatomaceous earth, lime, mash, fly ash, rosin, rock, activated carbon powder, granulated salt, sand, dry sawdust, light soda ash, dry sodium nitrate, powdered sulfur, wheat and many others.
Optional wash down nozzles can also be mounted at the top of the hopper to help prevent the material from adhering to the sides of the hopper by continually wetting the walls, this also helps to more easily move the materials down in to the eductor. Wash down nozzle are particularly effective when the material easily bridges or if a large quantity of material is being added, and can also help to reduce dust clouds forming when used with fine powders.
Hopper eductors are manufactured in a variety of types and sizes as well as materials, our standard Type 267 and 254 range in size from 0.75 Inch to 6 Inch, where as the Type 242 Hopper Eductors can range from 0.75 Inch up to and beyond 24 Inch. Variables such as pressure, temperature, density, required entrainment rates, and operating conditions must all be considered before determining the correct type and size of eductor to best suit to your requirements. Material of construction is typically Stainless Steel or Carbon Steel, however we can manufacture from practically any workable material. Also depending up on the application we can apply ceramic inserts or hardened coatings to the internal bores to extend service life for aggressive and erosive materials.
No other pumping & mixing device offers all these outstanding features:
- Low Cost - Units are small in relation to the work they do and cost is correspondingly low.
- Self Priming - Eductors are self-priming. They operate equally well in continuous or intermittent service.
- No Moving Parts - Eductors are exceedingly simple and reliable. There are no moving parts to wear or break in a basic eductor. Even when equipped with valves and sensors they require little attention, only periodic inspection and maintenance.
- Corrosion and Erosion Resistant - As they can be made of practically any workable material, coated with errosion-resistant materials or supplied with ceramic inserts, eductors can be made highly resistant to the actions of the materials handled or the environment in which located.
- Safe - Eductors can be used in hazardous locations where electrically operated alternates would require explosion proofing at considerable cost.
- Versatile - Various piping arrangements permit adapting to environmental conditions. Eductors of various types can handle granular solids, semi-solids, and slurries without contamination.
- Perform Double Duty - Eductors mix motive and suction materials intimately while pumping against a counter pressure.
- Easy to Install - Connections can be made to suit your piping requirements. Little space is required to accommodate units and they are normally so light in weight they can be supported by the piping to which they are attached.
Typical Hopper Eductor Applications
Here granular solids are fed from a storage hopper by either a vibratory feeder or screw conveyor in to the Hopper Eductor at a preset rate. To help the solids easilly flow, a small percentage of the motive liquid is passed through nozzles fitted at the inlet of the hopper to wash the solids in to the suction port of the eductor. The pre-wetted mixture is then entrained by the eductor and completely mixed with the motive liquid, the mixture is then discharged against a counter pressure.
If automatic feeders are not required, the hopper eductor may also be manually fed however care must be taken not to over load the hopper as this can in some cases extend the time take to entrain the solids. It is also recommended that full bore valves are fitted immediately upstream and downstream of the eductor so that it can be quickly switch off should the downstream pipework become blocked. In the event of a blockage a simple way to clear the down stream pipework is to stop the granular solids feed and wash down liquid, close the valve between the hopper and eductor (if fitted), and then open the motive and discharge valves. This will presurise the pipe work which should clear any minor blockages. The eductor should be left running for a short while to clear the downstream pipework before allowing the granular solids to flow again.
