Water. desalination + reuse

PROJECTS JaPanESE TO fund nauRu SOlaR dESalinaTiOn PROJECT The South Pacific island nation of Nauru, recently in a watersupply emergency along with its neighbour Tuvalu, has been given access to funding of US$ 4 million for a solar energy and seawater desalination plant. The money will be available from the Pacific Environment Community Fund and is expected to save Nauru 60 t of diesel per year, contributing to 1.3% of the nation���s current energy demand. Desalination is the main source of potable water for the people of Nauru. The project will provide an additional source of water supply and is expected to reduce desalinated water delivery time to Nauru households from every 4 weeks to 3 weeks. The project will be initially managed by Hitachi Plant Technologies, with the Nauru Utilities Corporation (NUC) and Department of Commerce, Industry & Environment involved substantially in its implementation. The NUC will eventually take over full management of the solar system and the desalination plant. ensured that it complied with state law to the maximum extent. The commission���s officials on 17 November 2011 had recommended acceptance only with the addition of seven new conditions, then the commission on 9 December 2011 unanimously rejected the consistency determination. VladiVOSTOk SWRO PROJECT fOR aqua-ChEm A custom-built 2.64 MGD (10,000 m3/d) seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant is being installed in eastern Russia, off the coast of Vladivostok, by Aqua-Chem Inc of the USA. The SWRO facility will support the drinking and process needs of local residents, a university and a conference facility that will be the site for the 2012 Asia Pacific Economic Conference. Aqua-Chem was contracted to provide a turnkey design/build project. The facility consists of four trains operating in parallel, the first of which was due to be commissioned at the end of 2012 with the other three units to follow early this year. The site is located in the northern Sea of Japan, and is known for its extreme weather conditions. CambRia dESalinaTiOn STudy failS COnSiSTEnCy TEST SEmbCORP REuSE ClOSES ChinESE PORT-zOnE���S WaTER lOOP The California Coastal Commission has called into question the future of the Cambrian desalination project near San Luis Opispo by ruling that a US Army Corps of Engineers project to test soil and water near the proposed intake/outfall site is inconsistent with its habitat and coastline rules. If the federal government engineers were to ignore the state commission���s ruling, a lawsuit would inevitably result, making such a move unlikely. The proposed geotechnical and hydrogeologic study was to assess whether the site might be suitable for a subsurface intake well and/or discharge for a future proposed desalination facility to be designed and constructed further inland by the Corps for the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD). Because state and federal jurisdictions overlapped, the Corps was asking for a ���consistency determination���, which would have Singapore company Sembcorp opened its first industrial water reclamation plant in China on 13 December 2011. The plant can produce 20,000 m3/d of industrial water and up to 4,000 m3/d of demineralised water for supply to customers in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Port Zone. The RMB 106 million (US$ 16.7 million) facility produces industrial water using treated effluent from Sembcorp���s centralised industrial wastewater treatment plant in the zone, thereby promoting water reuse and environmental conservation. Sembcorp now manages the entire water cycle of the free-trade port zone, providing total water and wastewater management solutions to its customers. Sembcorp���s total water solutions not only help its customers comply with discharge regulations and limit environmental impact, but also promote the reuse of water, closing the ���water loop���. in bRiEf ____ For more details, visit www.desalination.biz __ PalmaChim ExPanSiOn OPEnS The expansion of the Palmachim desalination plant in Israel was officially opened on 17 January 2012. One of a number of expansions ordered by the Israeli government, the Palmachim plant will now have a capacity of 90 million m3/year, up from 45 million m3/year. Global Environmental Solutions owns the plant, which it took over in 2011 from the original Via Maris consortium, of which it was a member. dESalinaTiOn Plan fOR RaS al kaimah A 68,000 m3/d desalination plant is to be built in Ras Al Kaimah, UAE, within two years, according to a report in a local newspaper. The Khaleej Times on 25 December 2011 quotes Mohammed Khalil Al Shamsi, director of corporate communications at the Federal Electricity and Water Authority as saying that the water shortage that hit several areas of the emirate following a breakdown in the desalination plant in the Al Nakheel area had added more importance to the planned station. dJibOuTi 'Planning dESalinaTiOn PlanT' The government of Djibouti in east Africa is planning to build a 45,000 m3/d desalination plant with European Union finance, according to a report in Gulf News on 4 December 2011. The government is reported to have said it plans to build a 20 MW wind farm and a desalination plant within the next two years in a DjibFr 20 billion (US$ 114 million) project. TWO RO PlanTS fOR ChilEan minE Two reverse-osmosis plants to treat around 5,000 m3/d are to be built by mining company Collahuasi in Chile, according to a report by Business News Americas on 18 January 2012. The plants, sized to treat 3,790 m3/d and 1,200 m3/d respectively, will be part of sanitation infrastructure that includes two wastewater treatment plants with capacities of 6,000 m3/d and 1,700 m3/d. February-March 2012 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 23 |

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