FRANKENTHAL, Germany, May 16, 2008 -- At the end of October 2007, KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal, Germany, received an order for 46 pumps to be delivered to a seawater desalination plant in Sydney, Australia. Sydney's desalination plant is being designed and built by a joint venture of John Holland Group, one of Australia's largest multi-discipline design and construction contractors, and Veolia Water, a world leader in desalination plant construction and operation.
Following its completion, the desalination plant will supply up to 250,000 cubic metres of fresh drinking water per day.
The plant works according to the physical principle of reverse osmosis (RO). The just under 70 bar pressure required to separate salt and water is provided, among others, by 13 high-pressure HGM-RO 8/3 pumps, each with a pump input power of approximately 2 000 kW. The outstanding feature of the radially split units offering a capacity of more than 1,000 m³/h per hour is their high efficiency. They therefore consume considerably less energy than the conventional axially split pump designs. This type series is also particularly easy to service and has proved successful in numerous pumping plants all over the world.
The order also includes the supply of 33 other high-pressure pumps and jockey pumps from various pump ranges. Delivery of the high-grade stainless steel pumps is scheduled to start in September of this year and will be complete in March 2009.
One of the reasons the German pump manufacturer was awarded the contract was their extensive service network in Australia. The new seawater desalination plant in Kurnell, a suburb of Sydney, is intended to secure the water supply of the city's rapidly growing population in the years to come. If necessary, the installation's capacity can be increased to 500,000 cubic metres per day.
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