Emergency pumps for the German Government

STRABAG, which is located in Brandenburg, Germany, is one of Europe’s biggest contractors. Currently, the company is renovating a pump-station which was installed near the river Elbe. It will be renovated over the course of a four year period, changing three pumps a year. During this period, two mobile diesel driven flood pumps need to be on “stand-by“ to ensure that the capacity requirements are met.

Recently BBA Pumps supplied two autoprime sound attenuated flood pumps. The pumps have been designed to pump at a duty point of 1.5m3/sec (23,800 gpm) at 13m (19 psi). The centrifugal pumps are coupled to a Volvo diesel engine which is mounted in a fully galvanised sound-absorbing canopy with an integrated diesel reservoir of 700 litres (184 gallons).

The highly efficient centrifugal pumps (85%) have impellers offering a solids handling capability of 133mm and run smoothly at a speed of 580rpm. The speed of the diesel motor (1,450 rpm) is reduced by a marine gearbox. The pump systems perfectly match the contractors’ requirements regarding duty point, required power and installed power perfectly. The high efficiency of the pumps make it possible to install a Volvo diesel engine TAD1252 (287kW – 1500rpm), having 19% over-capacity at duty point.