Pumps perfected for first-of-a-kind plant to have the power to be its best
PUMPS PUMPS FOR A GREENER WORLD
BORGER
Pumps perfected for first-of-a-kind plant to have the power to be its best
Pumps for circulating clean engine oil; a reasonably ordinary application? But then there’ s nothing ordinary whatsoever about Arjun Infrastructures’ remarkable power plant in London, which generates 17MW of renewable energy from food waste and can also utilise fats, oils and greases( FOG).
” This is a first-of-a-kind plant”, said Phil Jones, Director at 2OC, who developed the plant and now manage it on behalf of Arjun.
He added:“ Joining up assets that haven’ t previously been linked together before has presented many engineering challenges”.
Originally specified by Jacobs Engineering, the two 90kW lubrication pumps for the Combined Heat and intelligent Power( CHiP) plant had to be installed by main contractor J. Murphy and Sons in a very tight space, presenting the first in a series of obstacles to be overcome.
David Brown, from the pump manufacturer Börger explained:“ At first we thought that this was going to be a relatively uncomplicated job, but then the small footprint was just one of many hurdles to negotiate – not to mention the fact that the pumps had to go below ground, beneath the plant’ s engine”.
He added:“ We designed a special base frame so that the very robust EL1550 Classic pumps could be mounted vertically into the small footprint( just 3m by 4m) – and then for easy servicing, lifted out and put on their side. Over-pressure protection was required too. All a bit tricky, but often the case when there’ s not much space available.“
Producing enough energy for approximately 40,000 homes, Arjun’ s power station presents no shortage of high temperatures for its assets to cope with. This includes the Börger pumps, which had special cooling radiators for the gearboxes and motors installed.
So far so good, but with the Börger pumps and the rather demanding need to make all of the new power plant’ s equipment work together efficiently and economically, came a demanding, non-extendable deadline.
“ We were fully aware of this from day one”, continued 2OC’ s Phil Jones,“ but I can’ t deny that the pressure was well and truly on. We had to meet the deadline for all-important government ROCs( Renewables Obligation Certificates) that support largescale renewable electricity projects in the UK. To get the plant off on the right operational and financial footing, we had to make things happen to hit that deadline. We could not take our time”.
The construction contractors’ engineers were initially concerned about the noise and vibration of the two Börger pumps. As everyone in the supply chain knows, this can
116 PECM Issue 74