The purpose of this study is to approve the usage of CFD tools in order to characterize the performance of centrifugal pumps performance for industrial appliances, through the application of a mathematical model able to predict accurately the efficiency behavior and other key parameters for a specific pump, which is an integral and low-cost solution in order to improve their design process. Based on the CFD OpenFOAM®, the study initially attempts to reproduce experimental measurements performed on a cast-iron, 3-bladed industrial pump through simulation. After this has been done, a Central Composite Design has been implemented in order to analyze the response of performance parameters (pump head, suction and discharge pressures, NPSH, efficiency, torque) as a function of a definite set of geometric and operational pump variables, besides some physical properties of the fluid flow. The obtained results have shown that although the pump has a high efficiency at design operation conditions, there is an unused window for its better usage, that can conduce to efficiency increments up to 20% when the operation is at its best point, which in turn represents a chance for a sustainable management of these machines at the industrial level.