Gabbioneta pump range has been selected for Magellan Midstream project

Magellan Midstream is one of the leading companies in the US’ midstream market who owns and operates: 9700 miles of refinery pipeline, 1100 mile ammonia pipeline, 2200 miles of crude oil pipelines, as well as storage facilities with capacity of approximately 26 million bbls.

This order, worth a total value of approximately US$250 000 proved significant as Magellan Midstream Partners were re-commissioning their Aldine Terminal just outside of Houston and were looking for a qualified vendor to supply them with one mainline pump unit. The proposal originally pitched by the team was not a unit that the customer had used previously. However, after hearing of the key benefits and strengths of the proposed pump the customer soon followed up with a formal request for quotation.

The pump proposed by Gabbioneta was a BB3 type, which is a between bearing pump, axially split with a volute design. The BB3 pump is ideally designed to meet the specific working conditions of midstream applications such as: pipelines, tank farms, pipeline injection and transfer.

The fulfilment of this order proved truly ‘global’ as; although the pump order was driven by the team in Gabbioneta, it was secured through Floway – a Weir Flow Control pump manufacturer based in Fresno California. The Floway team will complete the skid unit design which will then be manufactured at Flow Control’s Deer Park Service Centre based in Houston Texas.

Following good engineering practice, the team performed a hydraulic performance simulation and numerical automatic optimisation using ANSYS CFX software. The pump bare-shaft design and mechanical simulation were carried out with PTC Creo Parametrics and Simulator, this process included FEM (Finite Element Methods) analysis on all pressure containing parts, including MAWP and Hydro Testing check as per API 610 standards.

In addition, the pump skid was analysed to ensure structural stiffness, such as limited displacement under increased nozzle loads.

The combined power of the three Flow Control companies allowed the teams to capitalise on each other’s expertise, allowing the customer to benefit from a custom-made product expertly engineered to meet their needs.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/product-news/16072018/gabbioneta-pump-range-has-been-selected-for-magellan-midstream-project/