Ebara crowns a busy year

Amongst recent developments at Ebara is the manufacture of the world’s most powerful LNG pump and the design of an FSRU pump set

Developments have continued apace this past year at Ebara International Corporation Cryodynamics Division (EIC), the specialist designer and manufacturer of submerged electric motor-powered pumps and cryogenic turbine expanders for land-based and marine applications.

For a start, EIC is currently at work on what is believed to be the most powerful pump of this type. A set of high power, model 8ECC multistage, high-pressure models, with a rating of 2,560kW (3,435 bhp), is being manufactured for an LNG receiving terminal in the USA. This contract follows the successful testing in January 2006 of another 8ECC multistage high-pressure set with the claimed highest total differential head, at 2,593m (8,507ft), ever provided for an LNG pump. This set of suction vessel-mounted pumps was provided for an LNG regasification terminal project in Mexico.

EIC has also recently won an engineering contract to complete the basic pump design package for an LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project. By adapting its existing range of high-pressure pumps through the incorporation of special features, EIC states that it will be able to accommodate the demands of this new application whilst retaining the proven reliability and performance common to all its range.

The manufacturer has also been expanding test capabilities at its production site in Sparks, Nevada. Newly built in 1994, this plant includes one of the largest and most sophisticated cryogenic liquefied gas pump test facilities. Here, EIC offers full performance testing of liquefied gas pumps using actual service fluids. Testing is performed at full flow and power with either LNG, LPG or liquefied nitrogen, the latter having a lower boiling point than LNG.

This recent expansion of the test stand will allow the company to complete over 600 tests in 2007. EIC is currently installing a variable speed drive to further enhance the capability of this facility.

The LNG industry is not only expanding rapidly, it is also introducing new technologies that pose further challenges for established specialist equipment suppliers such as EIC. “We believe that our capacity and proven ability to innovate, design, manufacture and full load test pumps and turbines will enable us to not only meet the demands of the industry but also maintain our position as the market leader for this type of equipment,” states a company spokesperson. LNG