Kobe Steel to supply Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHE) for FPSO in Angola
Aug. 29, 2025
Kobe Steel, Ltd.
Kobe Steel, Ltd. announces that it has been awarded by Saipem a contract to supply Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE*1) units for TotalEnergies’ Kaminho Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO*2) unit in Angola.
Our heat exchanger is expanding into the new energy supply chain, with applications for "production," "transport," "storage," and "use," to seize new business opportunities in energy transition. This order of PCHE for a large plant is a steppingstone in that direction.
The Kaminho FPSO is designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions with all-electric power and to fully re-inject associated gas into the reservoirs. The production is scheduled to start in 2028 after engineering, procurement, and construction by Saipem. Our PCHE will be delivered and installed at the topside of the FPSO in 2025, contributing with its compactness and durability against high pressure.
The Kobe Steel Group, also known as the Kobelco Group, will continue to move forward with our transformation initiatives in order to make our company more appealing to all of our stakeholders with a view to a world in which people, now and in the future, can fulfill their hopes and dreams while enjoying safe, secure, and prosperous lives.
- *1PCHE
Compared with the conventional heat exchanger with the shell and tube structure (double tube type), our PCHE is designed to have a wider heat transfer area (approx. 1,000 m2/m3), compactness (approx. 1/10 in size), and resistance to ultra-high pressure (100 MPa) by making laminated fine flow channels of 1-2 mm in width on stainless steel plate and joining them by diffusion bonding*2. For these features, Kobe Steel has a large global share in the market of heat exchangers for hydrogen filling stations and is working to further expand sales of PCHE for offshore platforms, vessels and floating facilities.
Diffusion bonding is a type of joining method like welding. In this method, materials are bonded together at an atomic level with heat and pressure at a high temperature. Diffusion bonding is suitable for joining fine flow channels and complicated three-dimensional structures because it can join materials without melting the base material unlike general welding.
- *2FPSO
An FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) unit is an offshore platform used to produce, store and offload oil and gas. Its unique feature is its ability to load oil and gas extracted offshore onto tankers at sea near subsea oil and gas fields without using pipelines to transport the oil and gas to land.
About KOBELCO-X
The Kobelco Group is working on the transformation into an appealing company, as set out in its Medium-Term Management Plan (Fiscal 2024–2026). As part of this effort, we are advancing an initiative called KOBELCO-X*3, which spans a wide range of transformations. The expansion of PCHE applications in the energy transition sector is linked to Ambidexterity (AX)―Enhancing existing businesses and exploring new business opportunities.
- *3KOBELCO-X
KOBELCO-X is a collective term of our Group's seven transformation initiatives aimed at achieving the transformation into an appealing company.
- Our Group’s Transformation Initiatives [PDF:7.88MB]
- *The information on this web site is presented "as is." Product availability, organization, and other content may differ from the time the information was originally posted. Changes may take place without notice.
