InfraStructures - March 2011 - Hitachi Plant Technologies Wins Contract for 32 Pumps for Egypt's First Supercritical Thermal Power Plant

Hitachi Plant Technologies Wins Contract for 32 Pumps for Egypt's First Supercritical Thermal Power Plant

Hitachi Plant Technologies, Ltd. (president and representative director: Toshiaki Higashihara) is pleased to announce its successful bid to supply 32 pumps for the Arab Republic of Egypt's first supercritical thermal power plant1 from the East Delta Electricity Production Company of Ismailia, Egypt.

The order covers manufacture and delivery of a total of 32 pumps, including pumps for boiler feed water and recirculating pumps, as well as four steam turbines for pump drive and 24 electric motors, all scheduled for delivery in December 2012.

Since the delivery of nine drainage pumps to the El Max Pumping Station2 in 1960 and the delivery in 2003 of 21 pumps for the Mubarak Pump Station3, which has the world's largest water pumping capacity, Hitachi Plant Technologies has delivered a total of 139 pumps to Egypt, contributing significantly to the development of Egyptian society and industry over the course of many years. Hitachi Plant Technologies has received this order in recognition of the many pumps it has supplied to Egypt, and the sophistication of Hitachi technology.

The pumps in this contract will be delivered to the El Ain El Sokhna Supercritical Thermal Power Plant located in the Ain Sokhna district on the Gulf of Suez, approximately 120 km east-southeast of Cairo. Against the backdrop of Egypt's solid economic growth, this power plant is designed to meet nation's ever-increasing demand for electric power. The plant uses supercritical thermal power technology, and as such employs high temperature, high pressure steam to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In supercritical thermal power plants, pumps able to withstand high-speed, high temperatures, and high pressures are essential due to the very high discharge pressures of boiler feed pumps. Barrel casing multistage diffuser pumps4 of Hitachi Plant Technologies used in this project have specially hardened sliding surfaces to provide long life operation under the condition where feedwater contain small amounts of oxygen, and the ease of removal of the inner cartridge design (i.e.pump inner casing including rotor parts, bearings, shaft seals and casing cover) from the barrel casing for inspection is designed to facilitate maintenance.

The El Ain El Sokhna Plant will have many seawater pumps, including circulating water pumps to supply cooling water to condensers. These seawater pumps will be handling the warmer and more corrosive waters of the Red Sea and as such, require high resistance to corrosion and high reliability. Seawater of Hitachi Plant Technologies pumps are constructed of super duplex stainless steel5, offering superior corrosion resistance and strength, and manufactured to the high quality using our certain welding technology such as heat input control to maintain corrosion resistance of welds.

Hitachi, Ltd. (representative executive officer and president: Hiroaki Nakanishi), and Sumitomo Corporation (president and CEO: Susumu Kato) have jointly received a turnkey order in September 2009 for manufacture, installation, and testing of two steam turbine generators for delivery in the summer of 2013.

Leveraging its ongoing experience in the construction of power plants to meet the ever-growing demand for electric power in Egypt, Hitachi Plant Technologies is moving forward with an ambitious program of winning contracts for power plants in the Middle East and North Africa, China, Southeast Asia, and other regions. The company envisions a worldwide pump business in excess of ¥JP20 billion ($236 million) by 2015 financial year.

Supercritical thermal power plant: Thermal power plant which operate at very high pressures surpassing the critical pressure of water (22.1MPa). The efficiency of thermal power plant increases as the temperature and pressure of the steam generated in the boiler by combustion of fossil fuels increases.
El Max Pumping Station: Pumping station constructed for drain water which collects in lowland areas in the suburbs of Alexandria into the Mediterranean Sea. Each of the Hitachi Plant Technologies pumps supplied for this pumping station has a pump discharge of 12.5 m³/sec, total head of 4 m, and required power of 708 kW.
Mubarak Pumping Station: One of the world's largest pumping stations, designed as part of the irrigation project for the Toshka region of southern Egypt. Each of the Hitachi Plant Technologies pumps supplied for this project has a pump discharge rate of 16.7 m³/sec, total head of 57.1 m, and required power of 12,000 kW.
Barrel casing multistage diffuser pump: Multistage centrifugal pump designed for high temperature, high pressure, high-speed applications, comprising a unitized rotating parts and a radially split inner casing inside a barrel type outer casing.
Duplex stainless steel: A duplex material is an Austenite/Ferrite duplex stainless steel, which has superior corrosion resistance in seawater and high strength. This material is applied in the industrial fields like chemical plant, seawater desalination plant, seawater pump, and so on.

Source: Hitachi Plant Technologies, Ltd.