In September 2006, the KSB Group booked an order for six submersible borehole pumps. These will be installed in several standby oil tanks in Japan.

The two largest pumps each have a capacity of 1,000 cubic metres per hour and will be used for supplying and withdrawing the oil. The pump drives, electric motors with a 330 kW power rating, have a 3000 Volt operating voltage. In addition, the tanks will each be equipped with two large and two small pumps whose job it is to pump out the influx of rainwater.

The pump units will be manufactured at KSB’s German plant in Homburg at the end of 2006. Installation in Japan is planned for March 2007.

The gigantic tanks, 80 metres tall and measuring some 100 metres in diameter, are situated in Akitar, a port town in the North West of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. To make sure there would be enough oil to keep the country going for at least seventy days in an emergency situation, the Japanese parliament passed the so-called Oil Stockpiling Law several years ago. Today, the country has stashed away some 320 barrels of oil, partly owned by the Japanese government and partly in private hands.

Picture: Illustration : Submersible borehole pumps for the Akitar project.
KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal)