More Pumps Ordered for Japanese Liquefied Gas Caverns
In late February this year, the KSB Group was awarded a contract for the supply of eight submersible borehole pumps worth some two million euros.
Special pumps used for liquefied gas storage in cavern systems (KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal)
The pump sets are to be employed at the Kurashiki LPG Stockpiling Base on Japan’s main island of Honshu where Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) is building a new subterranean cavern system for storing liquefied propane and butane.
Four of the ordered pump sets will be used for filling and draining the rock caverns. The pumps are designed for flow rates of 530 cubic metres per hour each at a head of 400 metres. The units have a motor rating of 364 kW each and require a 3300 V supply voltage.
The other four smaller-sized pumps will do service as seepage pumps. Their function is to transfer the seawater seeping into the rock cavern to the outside, which is an important task, since in the cavern the gas is floating on so-called “leaking water” and the water level is beneath sea level. They are made of corrosion-resistant chrome steels and duplex stainless steels.
One of the reasons the German supplier KSB was awarded the contract was its long-standing experience in the manufacture of liquefied gas pumps. The pump sets will be delivered in May 2009.
KSB will also equip the LPG storage facility Namikata, situated 50 kilometres to the west of the industrial city of Matsuyam, with the same type of pumps.
Source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA
