Where would I use a centrifugal vs. a positive displacement pump?
A centrifugal pump is commonly used for transferring water-like product. Some examples would be water, milk, beer and juice. The maximum centipoise (a unit to measure the thickness of a product) that a centrifugal pump can move is 1500cps or a light honey if it is very warm. A positive displacement or PD pump is commonly used for any thicker product or product that has particulates in it. Some examples would be stews, pie filling and mash potatoes. The maximum centipoise that a PD pump can move is as high as a million centipoise although most applications have product that is under 100,000cps. There are certain exceptions to the rule above, such as the use of PD pumps for milk-like products where the pump is used for timing, for example to feed a HTST or high temperature, short time heat exchanger.
