Libyan pumping station goes on stream

Frankenthal, Germany -- KSB AG has completed a Euro75m project to build C319 pumping station built in Benghazi, Libya, which went into operation in early June. The German equipment maker supplied seven large water transport pumps and numerous valves, the largest with a diameter of 2800 mm for the facility, which took four and a half years to build.

Station C319 takes water from the Omar Mukhtar Reservoir in Suluq/Benghazi and pumps it to the recently completed Al Khadra North East Reservoir, 16 km away. It also supplies water to several large farming projects situated along the pipeline. In the coastal region of Libya, the water is used as drinking water and for agricultural purposes.

The station employs seven-metre long carbon couplings to transmit the drive power of the 2.3 MW motors to the pumps installed in the basement of the pumping station. Although the motors are installed at a considerable distance from the pumps, vibration levels are reduced to a minimum by the innovative couplings.

The design “answers the need to ensure sufficient inlet pressure for the pumps on the one hand and to minimise the risk of damage caused by potential flooding on the other,” said a statement from Frankenthal-based KSB.

The contract involved the supply of around 320 metres of steel pipe laid from the tapping point to the entry into the existing discharge pipe. It further included a surge control system comprising eight 250 cubic-metre accumulators, a compressor plant, diesel generators for emergency power supply and a chlorination plant.

KSB’s remit includes managing the operation of the station during its first year of service -- following the final commissioning of the pumping station at the end of this year.