How Westfall Helped An Overseas Customer Eliminate Freight Costs

Feb 16, 2016 Bristol, RI, USA… Linde Engineering of Munich, Germany builds large processing plants. When they were hired by Gassco (the Norwegian state-owned natural gas distribution company) to build a new gas terminal in Emden, Germany, one of their challenges was to find a proven static mixing device to blend the gases coming from two separate Gassco pipes into the new terminal.

Gases of varying densities, compositions, temperatures and flow rates would have to be thoroughly blended before entering the storage tanks in the new facility. The mixer would have to do the job with minimal headloss.

The project engineers first selected a static mixer from a prominent European company, but their product did not pass Gassco’s stringent tests for an in-line mixer that would last at least 30 years with little to no maintenance.

CFD and FEA analysis were conducted on a Westfall in-line static mixer 3050. The Westfall Static Mixer 3050 easily passed the test, but the cost of shipping the mixer welded into a 12’ (3.6m) by 48’ (15m) pipe from the US to Germany was prohibitive.

Westfall was in danger of losing the job.

The solution: have the patented mixer components fabricated in Germany by a company approved by Westfall. Have them welded in place and inspected by an outside company approved by Westfall. Create an agreement between Westfall and Linde/Gassco for this one-time fabrication using Westfall blueprints.

To make this long-distance construction project work successfully, German engineers traveled to the US to visit Westfall and their CFD and FEA analysts at Alden Labs. Westfall and Alden Labs engineers traveled twice to Germany for consultations with the Linde construction engineers. Westfall’s European Sales Rep, Andreas Woelker, facilitated every step.

By manufacturing and installing the Static Mixer 3050 in Germany, the project could be closely monitored for adherence to German building codes. By creating a customized licensing agreement allowing precision manufacturing of a patented US product in Germany, prohibitive shipping costs from the US to Germany were eliminated.

Westfall’s inline Static Mixer has now been welded into the underground pipeline bringing natural gas from the Norwegian Continental Shelf to the new Emden terminal on the German coast. Currently Linde Engineering is conducting final tests on the new facility and plans to inaugurate service to the people and businesses of northern Germany beginning July 2016.