Thermal Energy International has won the third GEM condensate return system sales order from Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) in Kuwait.
The order, received on March 30, consists of one thousand Quartz GEM traps for use on low and medium pressure line drainage and trace heating applications at KNPC’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery.
Thermal Energy has been retrofitting refineries of KNPC with GEM steam traps since 2005. The first GEM Traps installation at the Shuaiba refinery included 1,750 traps.
According to KNPC’s Engineer & Maintenance Manager at the Shuaiba Refinery, in addition to the steam savings, the installation of GEM steam traps also reduced the condensate return pressure from 175psi(g) to 90psi(g), resulting in improvement in condensate drainage from all steam headers.
Thermal Energy claimed that this success led to a second order of 1,644 traps at the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, which was implemented in June 2009.