Our Choice for WFI/Pharmaceutical Sanitary Centrifugal Pumps…The Waukesha S200 Pump
There are a lot of sanitary centrifugal pumps on the market. Many have configurations designed for the stringent requirements of the biopharmaceutical industry, including higher surface finishes, casing drains and special seal configurations that better ensure sterility. Most will handle the duty if properly specified. But if you have a critical application that requires a sanitary centrifugal pump, one stands out well beyond its competitors, the Waukesha S200 Series pump. We will explain.
The Waukesha S200 series centrifugal pump is the only pump we know of that was designed from the beginning strictly for critical biopharmaceutical applications such as WFI. Unlike anything else on the market all of its wetted components are machined from wrought stainless steel. There are no cast wetted components in the pump. While they have gotten better over the years, castings can present challenges when you are trying to achieve higher surface finishes (especially electropolished) because they have more porosity. This is why the sanitary diaphragm industry moved to all forged bodies over 15 years ago. With the S200, everything is machined from bar; the casing, the cover, the impeller…. Everything.
Here are some of the other features and benefits of the Waukesha S200 pump
- The S200 was design was based on the Waukesha 200 series, a very high efficiency low NPSH design. It is available in 8 different models with flow rates up to 700gpm at 360ft of head.
- The S200 uses rugged JM frame motors and comes standard with a stainless steel motor adapter (see our previous blog on JM frame motors).
- Surface finishes are available up to 15Ra with electropolish
- Multiple casing drain configurations, including both 45 degree and 90 degree discharge options
- The pump is offered with a broad choice of both single and double external mechanical seal configurations. Despite all of the hype on internal seals the past few years, we prefer external mechanical seals for biopharmaceutical applications. Ask the purveyors of internal seal pumps where all of the seal material went when the seal wears. So you know, all seals wear.
- 3rd party cartridge seals, such a John Crane 8B2 seals can be installed in the S200 Series
- The S200 is offered with an excellent water for injection (WFI) configuration with a built in double mechanical seal flushing arrangement. We are convinced this is the best WFI sanitary centrifugal pump on the market. We have sold hundreds of S200 pumps for WFI applications over the past 10 years and have had no issues with them. Almost all of our largest pharmaceutical customers have standardized on the S200 for WFI.
- Using the same type of JM frame mounting options as the 200 series, the S200 series can either be close coupled to a standard NEMA motor (JM type IEEE841 is a favorite among some of our high profile pharma users) or pedestal mounted
- Holland is able to offer these pumps with a wide variety of base packages, including simple leg kits, carts, and even stainless steel groutable bases.
- Documentation: Waukesha offers detailed documentation package with the S200, including:
- Material Test Reports
- Hydrostatic Test Reports
- USP Class VI Elastomer Certs
- Surface Finish Certs
- Surface Finish Mapping Certs
- Ferrite Certs
- Electropolish Certs
- Passivation Cert
- Performance Testing Certs
We have been in the sanitary process components business for a long time. Over that time we feel we have built a pretty good reputation for ourselves by offering excellent service and supplying quality products to our customers. We scrutinize any product we sell and feel that all of the components we sell are best in class. But every once in a while, we have the privilege of offering a product that we feel is completely head and shoulders above its competitors.
This is how we feel about the S200 sanitary centrifugal pump. If you are considering a pump for a WFI system, take a close look at the S200. If you need more convincing, contact us today. We won’t put the hard sell on you. We don’t have to. The pump sells itself.