Major Order for Five Pumping Stations in Algeria
At the end of September, KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal, Germany, was awarded a contract for the supply of 30 pump units to equip five Algerian pumping stations which are part of the “Setif Est” project around 200 kilometres south east of Algiers.
A computer simulation of the newly developed RDLP pump from KSB, as it will be employed in the “Setif Est” project around 200 kilometres south east of Algiers.
The largest pumps will be equipped with 5,200 kilowatt drives and have a total weight of around 40 tonnes. When running at full load, each of the 30 pump units will handle 1,440 litres of water per second. The material used for the manufacture of all impellers will be a special type of steel which helps to prevent corrosion.
Since the first pumping station is a subterranean construction at the foot of a dam, the six pumps chosen for this installation employ a vertical design due to space restrictions. The remaining 24 pumps incorporate new technical features developed by the German pump manufacturer. In line with the customer’s specifications, KSB engineers designed a single-stage variant of the RDLP pump series which has been successfully used for decades. Heads of 250 metres normally require multistage pump types.
Before starting pump manufacture, the Frankenthal hydraulics experts used a fully functioning model to verify the accuracy of computer simulated flow values established via the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) method. The knowledge gained from model testing informed the final product design.
The five pumping stations are part of a long-distance pipeline set to carry 190 million cubic metres of water per year. 40 million cubic metres will be needed to supply the 700,000 inhabitants of the city of d’El Eulma, while the remaining 150 million cubic metres will be utilised to irrigate 30,000 hectares of agricultural land.
With this project, Algeria intends to prepare the country for the ‘post crude oil’ era and is currently engaged in large scale investment to secure its population’s water and food supply. It is hoped that by 2014 the Setif region will cover 15 percent of the country’s grain requirements. The delivery of the pumps is expected to start at the end of 2010 and will be completed in mid-2011.
Source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA
