Pump skids are a crucial equipment for multiple industrial applications, helping companies achieve processes that go from water management to operating substances at cryogenic temperatures.
What exactly is an industrial pump skid and what are its main uses? From our experience with cryogenic pump skids, at Cryospain we share some of the key pump skid uses and the main criteria to take into account when choosing pump skids for your company.
What are pump skids?
A pump skid is a piece of equipment that combines a number of elements upon a steel base. Out of these elements, the pump is the main component.
The pump is then powered by a driver (for instance, an electric motor or fuel engine) that is also part of the pump skid.
Typically, additional elements in pump skids include filters, valves, piping networks, pressure gauges and control systems.
Different sorts of pumps can be incorporated into industrial pump skid systems, depending on the equipment’s intended use. Multiple pumps can also be included in pump skids in order to multiply the instrument’s capability, as well as an additional booster pump skid.
Pump skids are used across a wide array of industries, being a key element in certain industrial processes such as high-flow purging, the testing of pressure and cooling, blanketing or pigging processes
Some of the industries that rely on pump skids include the oil and gas sector, the pharmaceutical industry, food, beverage and agricultural industries, water and wastewater plants, chemical plants and the pulp and paper sector, among others.
Pump skid uses in the cryogenic industry
Pump skids are often a crucial piece of equipment in high-performance cryogenic installations.
This involves the generation of low temperature (cryogenic) environments where certain substances can be managed, bringing important benefits for the storage and transportation of technical gasses such as natural gas, nitrogen or oxygen, among many others.
Some of the main pump skid uses in the cryogenic industry include:
- They help manage Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). As the LNG industry grows in importance, cryogenic pump skids play an important role in processes such as bunkering, loading yards and transporting LNG.
- Pump skids are also required for managing LIN (liquid nitrogen), LOX (liquid oxygen), LAR (liquid argon) and LCO2 (liquid carbon dioxide).
This is especially the case of ASUs (Air Separation Units), where atmospheric air is dissociated into its main components in order to obtain gasses such as nitrogen, oxygen or argon.
Additionally, filling plants for bottle filling, bunkering stations and regasification plants in various industries (pharmaceutical, metal industry, agro-food sector…) are also in need of cryogenic pump skids.
Related content: Tips and tricks for good cryogenic pump maintenance
Different industrial uses of pump skids
Pump skids serve a number of purposes across sectors such as the petrochemical, pharmaceutical and the agro-food industries.
The following stand out as the most important operations that require an industrial pump skid:
Water management
Pump skids are used for water management, guaranteeing that water and wastewater stations run smoothly. Water purification, wastewater treatment and rainwater harvesting all use pump skids to operate.
Chemicals
Pump skids are also involved in a number of processes that revolve around the management and administration of chemical substances. As such, blending, injection, mixing and metering processes are all part of the types of operations that require an industrial pump skid.
For instance, the paper and pulp industries use pump skids to operate.
Petroleum
Oil, gas and petrochemical refineries employ pump skids in order to pump substances from drill sites and drive them into their distribution and storage networks.
These pump skids often integrate multiple pumps in order to function, but their need must be assessed on a case by case basis. Additionally, pump skids in the petroleum sector must be designed to face challenging scenarios, including harsh climatic conditions in refineries, offshore and onshore installations.
Types of pump skids
- Depending on the type of driver powering the pump skid, there are pump skids based on gas, diesel, electricity and solar energy, among other options.
- Sizes may vary among different types of pump skids.
- Diverse types of pumps also translate into different sorts of pump skids. For instance, there are air-cooled centrifugal pumps (applied for operations that are 660 degrees Fahrenheit or less); water-cooled pumps (for operations that don’t go beyond 750 degrees Fahrenheit); or cryogenic pumps (designed to operate in temperature ranges that go from above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, −195.79 °C).
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Cryospain, designing custom pump skids for each industry
At Cryospain, we provide top-quality and efficient pump skids in order to operate using liquefied gasses at cryogenic temperatures, including LNG, LIN, LOX, LAR, LCO2 and LN2O.
We are specialized in generating tailor-made equipment to match our client’s needs. Such is the case of our cryogenic pump skid project in Jamaica, a sophisticated system designed to unload road tankers and refill one small-scale LNG regasification plant. Part of a resort complex in Jamaica, it’s now in charge of safely discharging LNG tanks and feeding a satellite regasification plant, thus supplying electricity for the whole complex to operate.
Providing constant improvements in our production capacities as well as guaranteeing the maximum flexibility to meet our clients’ demands, some of the features that characterize our work with pump skids include:
- Substituting an old cryogenic skid with a more modern and efficient model.
- The ability to comply with both European and US standards, which may be vital for many of our clients.
- Full project development, from design based on our clients’ brief to the manufacturing, distribution and start up of pump skid systems.
- A comprehensive maintenance and after-sale service that covers spare part supplies as well as potential repairing work and technical assessment.
Want to learn more about our cryogenic pump skids and their advantages for your company? Get in touch with us and let’s speak about how we can help you.
