Jabsco flexible impeller pumps from Xylem keep wine flowing in the world’s wineries
Jabsco pumps from leading global water technology provider Xylem are keeping the wine flowing in wineries around the world, helping vintners work their magic while protecting this delicate product during processes and transfer operations, so the wine keeps its full character and distinctive flavour.
The secret of successfully handling grapes is gentle handling and avoiding damage. Jabsco first solved this problem more than 60 years ago when it invented flexible impeller pump technology. Offering significant benefits compared to other types of pump for moving viscous foodstuffs and liquids containing fragile solids, flexible impeller pumps (FIPs) have minimal meshing action and can be run at low speed, so both viscous fluids and solid particles pass through without harm. The design of FIPs is also well suited to moving and transferring wine, as these pumps have enough suction to lift and push fluids over distances, as well as predictable flow and significant pressure, needed in wine filtration and bottling processes.
Jabsco pumps provide winemakers with the ability to transfer just-harvested grapes from a de-stemmer/crusher to a tank for fermentation without emulsifying the contents and for pump overs in the tanks for colour enhancement of red wines. The design of these large FIP positive displacement pumps is also well suited to moving wine around a winery for other transfer applications, such as tank to tank transfer and filling and empting barrels. FIPs are also used to move wine through the filtering process to remove sediment of solids and then pump the product forward to the bottling lines.
For smaller wineries, Jabsco FIPs are a cost-effective single pump solution with multiple uses. Larger scale producers use multiple Jabsco FIPs for dedicated tasks such as automated pump-over for red fermentations, which requires a pump that can lift must juice over the top of the tank at a high rate of flow, extracting optimum flavor and colour. They provide the greatest versatility at a modest cost – not only on initial capital outlay, but also as a whole of life cost – FIPs are both simple and inexpensive to maintain and repair. The impeller is softer than the pump cavity, so should a vineyard staple get drawn in by accident, for example, an FIP would only require a few minutes’ attention, whereas a progressing cavity or rotary lobe pump may be destroyed.
Jabsco continues to invest in and develop its FIP product line, providing a complete, cost effective solution to wineries of all sizes – a single, multi-use pump that is able to handle pumping tasks throughout the entire winemaking process.
Jabsco FIPs can be seen on Stand 119 in Hall 6, where Xylem is bringing its whole product portfolio for the beverage market onto one stand for the first time. Visitors can see Xylem’s other leading Flojet and Jabsco pumps, as well as products and technologies for virtually every stage of beverage and food production, including processing, fluid filtration (PCI Membranes), bespoke dispense system design and specialist Ebro and Bellingham & Stanley analytical instrumentation.
About Xylem
Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology provider, enabling customers to transport, treat, test and efficiently use water in public utility, residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market leading product brands, and its people bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on finding local solutions to the world’s most challenging water and wastewater problems. Launched in 2011 from the spinoff of the water-related businesses of ITT Corporation, Xylem is headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., with 2011 revenues of $3.8 billion and 12,500 employees worldwide.
The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all — that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xyleminc.com.
