Improving efficiency of Archimedes screw pumps

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The Archimedes screw pump (ASP) is a unique form of high volume, low head pump. ASPs can provide solutions for industries with challenging pumping requirements, including moving food-grade liquids, biohazardous materials, liquids containing suspended solids, or live fish. Although ASPs have existed for millenia and are widely used in waste water and drainage applications, there is little available research or engineering design guidance. ASPs are mostly an empirical technology. This makes designing ASPs optimized for specific applications difficult. We believe that there is significant opportunity to improve the efficiency and performance of ASPs by applying knowledge from the growing field using Archimedes screws to generate electricity, and applying modern simulation and experimental techniques. This project is a research partnership between the University of Guelph, and Ontario-based Bluestreak Equipment Inc., both of whom have significant experience researching, designing and implementing Archimedes screw generators. This project partnership will leverage this past experience and the research infrastructure (laboratory and computational simulation) developed to support it, to fill important missing engineering knowledge gaps on ASPs. Specifically, we will complete field and laboratory experiments, and develop computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to provide new knowledge on the optimal water levels, configurations, and operating conditions for ASPs. This new knowledge will be incorporated into a semi-automated software tool that will allow design of optimized ASPs for specific sites and applications. Pumps are significant energy consumers in industry and water treatment. In practice, pump efficiency is relatively low compared to other industrial technologies, particularly when pumping contaminated or complex fluids. ASPs present an opportunity to provide high efficiency (>85%), high reliability pumping in challenging applications like waste water, aquaculture and food processing. There are currently no Canadian ASP manufacturers, and ASPs are imported from foreign producers: this project will support the development of a competitive, Canadian ASP industry.