Water. desalination + reuse

DWR FebMarch 2015

Water. Desalination + reuse

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TECHNOLOGY February-March 2015 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 25 | evaporation pond of 1,000,000 m² can be reduced to roughly 500 m², not only to reduce the plant's impact on the environment but also to all but eliminate a major breeding ground for mosquitoes, as the brine in the smaller pond will be highly concentrated and hostile to mosquito larvae. "We know two or three plants operating under these conditions and we are fairly sure that we can help them in increasing their capacity and reducing the discharge without drawing more water from the wells and without adding to the mosquito situation. We will be discussing this with the local water authority in Saudi," Halabi says. Water injection for the recovery of oil is another target area. The water comes out mixed with oil and sometimes at a very high salinity. This presents a real opportunity for desalination and reuse by LTDis in conditions that would test other technologies, says Halabi. For the same reasons he sees similar openings in the unconventional oil and gas sectors such as shale extraction. With the strong oil and gas opportunities does he see the Middle East as a likely early mover territory? "Yes. We are still promoting the process in Saudi but think of places like Qatar, which has some of the strangest regulations when it comes to discharge. It doesn't even allow the discharge of brine in the sea. So Qatar is a good opportunity. Elsewhere we have requests for proposals from China." Africa however is not high in immediate promise he says owing to the scarcity there of target industries: "We are looking at North Africa where we have oil and gas – probably Algeria, Libya and Egypt," says Halabi. Coupling LTDis with solar has strong potential. "Definitely LTDis can be combined with solar heat. It can even work on the differential temperatures in solar ponds for a heat source. We have been approached by companies that produce solar panels and solar collectors and we are looking at possibilities." NEw dEaLs Meanwhile TPTec is looking to forge other strategic deals to add to the exclusive arrangement with Metito in Africa and Asia says Mansfeldt. "We have a number of projects that cover that and it is our priority to get further references up and running in the Metito territory. At the same time we are looking to set up strategic links with strong industry partners in other parts of the world as well," he says. "However we take these things one step at a time. We need to get projects going but yes we do focus on [other partnerships] as well," he adds. While TPTec is in discussions with other potential partners, those talks are "at too early a stage to comment on." He adds: "The focus [with Metito] is in Africa and Asia but should we find an opportunity that both parties find interesting I'm sure we'd find a way to work together in other places." Meanwhile Mansfeldt says there are projects in prospect: "We are working on five to ten concrete projects that we are offering, or have offered already and hopefully we'll soon see some results from that." And while Metito has added its financial shoulder to TPTec's push into the market so Metito has itself been given a potentially game changing injection. Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have taken a further 38.4% stake in Metito while the Japan Bank for International Cooperation has provided up to US$ 92 million to fund growth opportunities. This coalescence of a substantive boost in financial and other resources has set up the coming year as one full of potential for TPTec's bid to usurp established desalination technologies. Halabi sums it up: "So far there has not been I think deep enough understanding to improve the efficiency and bring LTDis up to the level to compete with alternative technologies. With TPTec now I think we are up to that level." l TECHNOLOGY Start of a dynasty? A prototype LTDis plant at El Gouna, Egypt has shown early promise for the technology. Sources: (1) Membrane seawater desalination: overview and recent trends (Nikolay Voutchkov, 2010). (2 Calculations, based on operations at El Gouna plant, Egypt. (3) GP Bullhound, sector update, July 2012, page 11. Table 1. LTDis today matches forecasts for improvement in the performance of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO)

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