DXB supply brand new pumpstation to Holcim Torr Works Super Quarry.

DXB Integrate, the pump sales and hire sister company of manufacturer DXB Pump & Power, recently commissioned the brand new 900 litre/sec pumpstation in Torr Works, one of the largest quarries within Holcim UK at an output of 5.5m tonnes per annum.

Initially designed and quoted in 2024, the project began in earnest in the autumn of 2025 after being expanded from the original supply of five DXB electric pumpsets to a turnkey supply and installation of the pumps, pipeline manifolds and civils including a large concrete base complete with cable runs from the new MCC container located close by.

Designed in co-operation with the Torr engineering team, the final DXB design allowed the quarry to move away from the historic method of using additional submersible pumps in sumps that required blasting and excavating, by combining with existing pumps that were moved down to the new lower benches.

With a new design concept incorporating an inline booster pump station installed on a higher bench and splitting the existing pipelines, DXB designed a solution that eliminated the risk of future recirculation leakage from any new sump and substantially increased the output and water-to-wire efficiency of the overall dewatering system.

The existing dewatering system included multiple large submersible pumps operating in sumps and well back on the performance curve due to the high static head, at around 150l/sec with a total dynamic head of more than 100m on 8^th bench up through two large 600mm HDPE pipelines and manifolds with extensive control and monitoring equipment managing their safe operation.

With the quarry going down a further two 15m benches over the next five years, the quarry sought a solution that maximised flow rates without making the existing pumps redundant and optimised the dewatering system to reduce power consumption and energy costs as much as possible.

Using their thirty-year global mine and quarry dewatering experience, DXB designed a solution that enabled the super quarry to continue to use their existing pumps by splitting the total static head, locating a booster pumpstation half way up the quarry in a redundant area, bringing the submersible pumps back to a flow rate twice as high as they were operating at before the installation was completed.

Said Phil Finlay, Operations Director and Onsite Manager for the Torr project, “ designing the pumpsets for this project was probably the simplest part of the project but being asked to convert this into a turnkey solution managing the civils and pipework changes was something DXB had never done on such a large scale.”

The project involved managing local suppliers who had experience of working on Torr and ensuring that all facets of the project fell into place and were completed on schedule to ensure that the delivery was done in line with the customers expectations.

Working closely with the specific on-site Holcim Project Engineer enabled Phil and the DXB team to complete the civils before the worst of the UK winter weather set in and gave the team a good foundation on which to install the pumpsets and associated manifold system whilst the MCC control systems were being installed next door.

With the whole system installed before Christmas, efforts were turned to the supply of a new pipeline from the new sump in the 9^th bench to be hooked up to the new pumpstation which was now located three benches up on level 6 meaning moving the two existing 600mm HDPE pipes and installing a new 355mm HDPE pipeline for the washplant feedlines.

All the new pipework was completed in early February after battling bad weather and on-site conditions that were extremely challenging, allowing for the commissioning in mid-February.

Working with the Holcim Torr resident IT team and electrical contractor Nexdorf, DXB designed a new operating philosophy that allowed all eleven pumps to operate in parallel/series including the new 1.5MW pumpstation that had three 400kW booster pumps and two new 110kW washplant booster pumps all operating in duty/standby configuration.

For each of the three booster pumps from DXB that incorporated a Cornell 12x10 end-suction centrifugal pump driven by a Brooks Crompton 400kW IEC4 motor, DXB designed large, sound-attenuated, fully bunded canopies that allowed for easy maintenance and protected the equipment from the local harsh environment.

A fully automated pipe manifold system was designed and installed, which enabled all the pumps to operate independently or in parallel with each other, giving a final pumpstation performance in excess of 1000l/sec or 3600m3 per hour, well beyond the design specifications.

The whole dewatering electrical system was upgraded, with the existing MCC control room moved down to the new lower level, along with the submersible pumps, and the new control centre, including a new substation, was installed beside the new pump station, three levels up.

Software and control systems were written by in-house expert Richard Marsh with the assistance of DXB enabling all the pumps and valves to be automatically controlled and work together to optimise the system and ensure each of the pumps in the sumps worked in series with the new booster pumps.

Commissioned over a three-day period, DXB worked closely with the Torr team to firstly commission the new washplant pumps that increased flows up to 70 l/sec giving the quarry the ability to fill multiple tanks on site at the same time, something they had not been able to undertake before.

The booster pumpsets were first commissioned individually then in parallel to ensure that they individually worked to specification at the 442l/sec flowrates then together to maximise the flows with two pumps at over 1000l/sec through the common suction and discharge manifolds. The previous highest flows were under 700l/sec.

All pumps were tested and then run hard to ensure the system integrity and operating philosophy worked well, allowing DXB to leave the site with the fully commissioned high-performing new dewatering system.