Going with the flow: Life cycle costing for industrial pumping systems

Industries worldwide depend upon pumping systems for their daily operation. These systems account for nearly 20 percent of the world's industrial electrical energy demand and range from 25-50 percent of the energy usage in certain industrial plant operations. Purchase decisions for a pump and its related system components are typically based upon a low bid, rather than the cost to operate the system over its lifetime. Additionally, plant facilities personnel are typically focussed on maintaining existing pumping system reliability rather than optimizing the systems for best energy efficiency. To ensure the lowest energy and maintenance costs, equipment life, and other benefits, the system components must be carefully matched to each other, and remain so throughout their working lives. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis is a tool that can help companies minimize costs and maximize energy efficiency for many types of systems, including pumping systems. Increasing industry awareness of the total cost of pumping system ownership through life cycle cost analysis is a goal of the US Department of Energy (DOE). This paper will discuss what DOE and its industry partners are doing to create this awareness. A guide book, Pump Life Cycle Costs: A Guide to LCC Analysis for Pumping Systems, developed by the Hydraulic Institute (HI) and Europump (two pump manufacturer trade associations) with DOE involvement, will be overviewed. This guide book is the result of the diligent efforts of many members of both associations, and has been reviewed by a group of industrial end-users. The HI/Europump Guide provides detailed guidance on the design and maintenance of pumping systems to minimize the cost of ownership, as well as LCC analysis. DOE, Hydraulic Institute, and other organizations' efforts to promote LCC analysis, such as pump manufacturers adopting LCC analysis as a marketing strategy, will be highlighted and a relevant case study provided