Water. desalination + reuse

PROJECTS Saudi SOlaR dESalinaTiOn PuSh nEaRS End Of PhaSE 1 The first of three phases of the King Abdullah Initiative for Solar Water Desalination is expected to be operational by the end of this year, according to reports from Saudi Arabia. Phase 1 involves construction of two solar-energy plants which will generate 10 MW of power for a 30,000 m3/d reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination plant at Al Khafji, near Saudi's Kuwait border. It will meet the needs of 100,000 people. Phase 2 will involve construction of a 300,000 m3/d desalination plant as soon as Phase 1 finishes. This will take three years. The third phase aims to implement the initiative throughout Saudi Arabia with the eventual target of seeing all the country's desalination plants powered by solar energy by 2020. These projects will be implemented by an industrial consortium that uses the technologies developed jointly by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and IBM, and markets it throughout the world within the framework of the Industrial National Strategy led by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. KACST is aiming towards practical application of advanced nanotechnology techniques in the production of solar energy systems and membranes for water desalination. These techniques have been developed through the KACST/IBM Joint Center for Nanotechnology Research. One of the main objectives of this initiative is to desalinate seawater at a cost of less than Riyal 1.5 /m3 (US$ 0.40/m3) compared with the current cost of thermal desalination, which KACST says is in the range Riyal 2.0-5.5/m3 (US$ 0.53-1.47/m3), and desalination by RO, which is Riyal 2.5- 5.5/m3 (US$ 0.671.47/m3) for a desalination plant producing 30,000 m3/d. KfW SignS dJERba dESalinaTiOn lOan agREEmEnT in TuniSia Tunisia's Société Nationale d'Exploitation et de Distribution des Eaux (SONEDE) signed an agreement on 22 August 2013 with the German development bank KfW for a loan of around € 60 million for the Djerba seawater desalination plant. The plant on the island of Djerba will have a capacity of 50,000 m3/d expandable to 75,000 m3/d and is the first to be developed and utilised by SONEDE. WaTER CORPORaTiOn COOPERaTing On WavE-EnERgy dESalinaTiOn PilOT Western Australia's Water Corporation has signed a cooperation agreement to support the wave-powered seawater desalination pilot project proposed by Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd. The pilot, which forms part of Carnegie's Perth Wave Energy Project, will be the first wave-powered desalination project in the world. It will be located on Garden Island, Western Australia, home to Australia's largest naval base, HMAS Stirling. The Water Corporation owns two large seawater plants, which are able to supply approximately half of Perth's drinking water needs. Key tasks ahead of construction of the desalination pilot plant include completing detailed design, securing environmental approvals and the potential integration of the construction and commissioning of the desalination pilot into the delivery of Perth Wave Energy Project. The latter will be cost effective as it will allow both projects to be constructed at the same time and then commissioned sequentially. The desalination pilot project is supported by Aus$ 1.27 million (US$ 1.14 million) in federal government grant funding from AusIndustry's Clean Technology Innovation Program. malaKOff TiES uP al ghubRah dESalinaTiOn finanCE Malakoff Corporation Berhad announced on 26 July 2013 that it had signed the financing agreements of the 42 MIGD (191,000 m3/d) Al Ghubrah independent desalination project in Oman. The project, expected to be completed by October 2014, is being developed by Muscat City Desalination Company SAOC, a consortium comprising Malakoff International Ltd, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and Cadagua SA of Spain. The financing has come from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Japan Bank for International Cooperation. billiTOn aPPROvES finanCE fOR 216,000 m3/d ChilE minE An investment of US$ 1,972 million was approved by mining giant BHP Billiton on 25 July 2013 for its 216,000 m3/d seawater desalination plant in Escondida, Chile. The project will ensure continued water supply to the Escondida copper mine, as water use increases upon completion of a 152,000 t/d OGP1 copper concentrator. Construction of the new desalination facility will commence in July 2013 and will include the development of two pipelines, four high-pressure pump stations, a reservoir at the mine site and high voltage infrastructure to support the system. CERamiC mf + iOn ExChangE fOR uK WaTER TREaTmEnT PlanT A water treatment plant using suspended ion-exchange and ceramic microfiltration is to be built by the UK's South West Water using CeraMac technology from PWN Technologies of the Netherlands. The installation, at Roborough, north of Plymouth, will be based on a 150 m3/d demonstration plant built at Crownhill. It is the first time that PWN technology has been used in the UK. Over the next 18 months, a dedicated team will be testing the process with a variety of raw water sources. This will enable PWN and South West to fine-tune the process and help with the design of the new treatment works, which is scheduled for operation in 2018. agbaR SubSidiaRy SubmiTS EiS fOR ChilE dESalinaTiOn PlanT An environmental impact study (EIS) has been submitted for the construction of a 1,000 L/s (86,400 m3/d) seawater reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the coastal town of Chañaral, near the city of Caldera in Chile's Region III. The EIS for the Atacama Potable Water Plant, estimated to cost US$ 300 million, was carried out by Environment Aqualogy Chile SA for Chile Agbar Group SA, both subsidiaries of the Spanish supplier Aguas de Barcelona. The project proposes two phases of 500 L/s each, totalling 1,000 L/s. The first phase will use existing infrastructure and August-September 2013 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 23 |

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