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Water Desalination ReporT

Tom Pankratz, Editor, P.O. Box 75064, Houston, Texas 77234-5064 USA

Telephone: +1-281-857-6571, www.desalination.com/wdr, email: tp@globalwaterintel.com

2013 Media Analytics. Published in cooperation with Global Water Intelligence

Volume 49, Number 32

The international weekly for desalination and advanced water treatment since 1965

Company News

SWT deal likely to be announced at weftecSiemens Water Technologies (SWT) celebrated 100 yearsof water treatment innovation and industry leadership last

week, marking the centennial of the installation of Wallace

& Tiernans rst chlorine gas metering unit. Ironically, SWT

press releases announced the anniversary even as CEO Lukas

Loefer was meeting with private equity rms interested in

buying the company, which includes its remaining Wallace

& Tiernan assets. SWT has already sold off the Wallace &

Tiernan ChemFeed product line to Andy Seidels Under-

ground Solutions.

Rumors as to who the new owners might be and what they willdo with the companys assetswhich include the Memcor

Membrane Products group and a recently developed low-

energy seawater desalination processabound. However,

the names of four private equity rms keep cropping up:

Platinum Equity, Advent International, CCMP Capital and

Golden Gate Capital. Although none of the four rms appear

to have a clear water industry focus, at least one is understood

to have some water company connections.

Platinum Equity is thought to be the front-runner, and some

reports indicate that all of the other participants had either

dropped out or were thrown out by SWT, only to re-enter the

process. Someone familiar with such acquisitions told WDR,

It is eminently feasible, and likely, that one or two of the

suitors that have dropped out could be invited back to the

bargaining table. After all, Goldman Sachs [SWTs nancial

advisor] would want to make sure that they dont oversee a

failed process similar to what happened when Veolia sold

Culligan in 2004. That deal ended with all but one bidder

dropping out, and that bidder was left to control the pricing.

Industry expectations are that a nal deal will be announced

at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition

and Conference (WEFTEC), which will be held in Chicago

beginning on 5 October.

Libya

Desal is part of massive rebuilding effort

Libyas massive post-revolution rebuilding program is

expected to help the countrys economy grow by 16.5 percent

this year. The development and modernization of damaged

9 September 2013

and aging infrastructure is one area that needs immediate

attention.

By the end of this year, the General Desalination Company

of Libya (GDCOL) expects to hire a consultant to provide

project supervision and technical studies to expand existing

plants and build at least three new SWRO plants with

combined capacities of over 1 million m3/d (264 MGD).

The projects currently under consideration are:

PlantNew or

expansion

Capacity,

m3/d (MGD)

Expected

Technology

Benghazi New 400,000 (106) SWRO

Misrata New 85,000 (22.5) SWRO

Tripoli East New 500,000 (132) SWRO

Tobruk Expansion 13,333 (3.5) MED-TVC

Tobruk 2 New 40,000 (10.6) SWRO

Bomba Expansion 30,000 (8) MED-TVC

Zliten Expansion Undetermined MSF or MED

Prior to the revolution, plans called for the new desal plants

which are now in the conceptual or permitting stageto

be delivered as BOT projects. However, Global WaterIntelligence has reported that the current plans indicate that

they will employ EPC contracts.

Chile

Escondida mine will do it Gangnam style

Doosan has conrmed that it has received a $103 million

contract to supply a 220,000 m3/d (58 MGD) SWRO plan

for the $3 billion Escondida Copper Mine, southeast of

Antofagasta, Chile. Kansas City-based Black & Veatch wil

serve as the projects Engineer of Record and will manage

the procurement for BHP Billiton, a 57.5 percent owner of

the mine.

Although most large-scale desal projects are delivered under

an EPC or a BOT contract, Doosan Heavy Industries

based in Seoul, Koreas Gangnam Districtwill deliver the

project under a design and supply arrangement, which wil

reportedly be delivered FOB Korea, with Doosan supervising

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Page 2 WATER DESALINATION REPORT 9 September 2013

combined production capacity of the facility will be 232,000

m3/d (61.3 MGD).

Egypt

Ancient city gets 21st century water plantSpains Desalia has completed the commissioning of a

24,000 m3/d (6.3 MGD) SWRO project at Marsa Matrouh

240km (148 mi) west of Alexandria. The city, which is now a

major Egyptian tourist resort, was founded as a small shing

town and is the site of the ruins of a temple of Rameses II

that dates back to 1200 BC.

The desal plant was built on a turnkey basis for the

Armament Authority of the Ministry of Defense of Egypt. It

is the largest such project to be developed by the government

through the state-owned Armament Authority that provides

potable water to the civil population.

Feedwater for the plant is obtained via a 1200mm (47 in)

diameter HDPE pipe that extends 625m (2,050 ft) into the

sea, while the RO concentrate is discharged through a 325m

(1066 ft) long, 800mm (31.5 in) diameter pipe. Pretreatment

for the four-train RO system consists of conventional, dual

media ltration followed by cartridge lters. The plant is

equipped with Energy Recoverys PX ERDs.

According to Manuel Latorre, Desalias managing director

the systems permeate quality is 200 mg/L. The actual

energy consumption for the high-pressure and booster pumpsis 2.17 kWh/m3 (8.2 kWh/kgal) and the energy consumption

for the whole plant, including pretreatment, post-treatment

product distribution and auxiliaries services is 3.1 kWh/m3

(11.7 kWh/kgal).

Desalia has a ve-year contract to operate the plant.

Research: USA

Nine projects will share $1.1 million

A combination of laboratory- and pilot-scale research pro-

jects will receive up to $200,000 in funding under the Bureauof Reclamations Desalination and Water Purication

Research Program. Successful applicants were chosen

through a competitive, merit-reviewed process. With the

exceptions of institutions of higher learning, entities must

cost-share at least 75 percent of the project cost.

The projects selected for funding this year are:

Membrane Structural, Transport Fundamentals The

feasibility of low-energy membranes for inland water

treatment applications will be considered in this lab-scale

project by Penn State University. $95,467.

the erection and commissioning. A project construction

contractor has not yet been announced.

The plant will consist of nine single-pass SWRO trains, and

its pretreatment will include a two-stage media ltration

system to treat seawater collected at an intake depth of morethan 20m (65 ft).

Desalted water will be delivered to the mine, which is located

in the Atacama Desert at an elevation of 3,100m (10,170 ft),

via a 170km (106 mi) pipeline from Puerto Coloso.

The plant, which will be the rst large-scale plant Doosan

has furnished outside the Middle East, is scheduled to begin

producing water by the end of 2016.

Bechtel is the program manager for the current Escondida

expansion, and was the EPC contractor for mines Phase 3.5

and Phase 4 expansions, which were completed in 1998 and

2002, respectively.

India

Facility to add 3 MED-TVCs

An industrial client in northwest India has awarded IDE

Technologies a $75 million contract to add three new MED

units with a combined production capacity of 72,000 m3/d

(19 MGD). According to IDE, the units will ensure that the

facility can meet its increased boiler feedwater requirements

and provide potable water for local consumption.

Each of the new 11-effect units will be equipped with a

thermal vapor compressor (TVC) and will operate at a GOR

of 11.3 and a top brine temperature of less than 70C (158F).

IDE had previously furnished nine MED units at the site:

four 12,000 m3/d (3.2 MGD) units in 1998, one 14,400 m3/d

(3.8 MGD) unit in 2005 and four 24,000 m3/d (6.3 MGD)

units in 2008. Following the installation of the new units, the

Existing 24,000 m3/d MEDs

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Rural ZLD Desal System Trussell Technologies will

perform a process evaluation study of a unique ZLD desal-

ination system that was developed for use in small, rural

communities. $149,446.Microbial-Deionization System The University of

Tennessee will investigate the use of microbial electrolysis

deionization to treat wastewater while recovering energy

and nutrients. $150,000.

Barometric Evaporator Sephton Water Technologies will

test a prototype barometric evaporator for application to

provide steam generation for a vertical tube evaporator to

treat water at the Salton Sea. $29,836.

Autonomous Cyclic RO System The University of Southern

California will evaluate the operational exibilities of a newcyclic RO concept to treat a wider range of salinities using

less energy. $150,000.

Commercial Solar Still Operation Suns River will construct

a larger solar desal still and continue last years research,

which was conducted on a small-scale unit. $45,022.

A New Polymer-based NF/RO Membrane The Universityof Colorado will investigate scale-up and economical aspects

of a new, TFC lyotropic liquid crystal polymer membrane

system. $134,544.

Texas BWRO/SWRO Pilot Study The City of Corpus

Christi will assess the feasibility, options, cost information

and operating parameters of a full-scale SWRO facility and/

or brackish groundwater supply. $200,000.

Halophyte Farming with RO Concentrate Building on

previous research, the University of Arizona will construct

an agricultural research facility to conduct a pilot study that

will evaluate the use of salt resistant crops in RO concentrate

management. $148,053.

For more information of the Bureau of Reclamations

advanced water treatment funding programs and projects,

visit www.usbr.gov/awt.

Company News

TurboChargers get an upgrade

Energy Recovery has introduced a new, more efcient

Advanced TurboCharger (AT) line of energy recovery devices

for RO plants. According to Eric Kadaj, the companys

senior technical manager for centrifugal products, the ATs

internals have been entirely redesigned with replaceable

PET-P volutes and a new rotating assembly that maximizes

efciency gains and increases operational exibility.

Page 3 WATER DESALINATION REPORT 9 September 2013

Kadaj said that eld tests have shown an efciency gain of

3 to 4 percentage points over previous designs. We now

have the most efcient and reliable centrifugal ERD, and the

patented removable hydraulics [volute inserts] allow for rapid

customization and quick, onsite change-out of hydraulics

if required, he said, noting that the units are backwards

compatible with thousands of HALO TurboChargers now

in operation.

Research: Australia

Four desal projects selected for fundingAfter reviewing 47 expressions of interest, and shortlisting

nine, the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination

Australias (NCEDA) Research Advisory Committee

has approved funding of four new projects under its fth

Funding Round. The projects are valued at over $2.5 million

including cash and in-kind contributions, and join nearly

50 other projects worth more than $80 million under way

across Australia.

Fibre-Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor This

project will develop a low-cost prototype sensor to detect

specic chemical contents and microbes in water. Theprincipal investigator (PI) is Professor Kamal Alameh

from Edith Cowan University, and the project is valued at

$844,540.

Alternative RO Membrane Disposal Methods Victoria

Universitys Dr Marlene Cran will serve as PI for this

project, which aims to nd alternative uses for end-of-life

RO membranes with a focus on recycling materials for

other industries. The project is valued at $324,444, and the

University of New South Wales and Dow Water and Process

Solutions will participate.

Inserting the replaceableTurboCharger volutes

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Page 4WATER DESALINATION REPORT 9 September 2013

Validation of a FO Concept Associate Professor Pierre Le-

Clech of the University of New South Wales is the PI for this

project to further validate a recently developed FO concept

and develop a detailed energy model. Ghent University

(Belgium) will collaborate on this $381,500 project.

Development of Bio-organic Hybrid Membrane Professor

Michael Monteiro of the University of Queensland will

lead a project to develop a novel, biomimetic membrane

with high selectivity and permeation rates and low energy

requirements. Stanford University (USA) will participate in

this project valued at $953,718.

The NCEDA is funded by the Australian Governments

Water for the Future initiative. More information is available

at http://tinyurl.com/max6279.

In briefThe Advance Program for this years IDA World Congress,

which will be held in Tianjin, China, from 20-25 October, is

now available on the IDA website at http://www.idadesal.org/

world-congress/. The World Congress technical program

will include 324 oral and poster presentations in 32 sessions,

exhibitors from 23 countries and three facility tours.

Nebraska-based Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN) has

completed the acquisition of privately-held, California-

based Claude Laval Corporation, also known as LAKOS

Separators and Filtration Solutions, whose annual

revenues are $25 to $30 million.

As part of its annual Center of Excellence (CoE) scholarship

program, the Middle East Desalination Research Center

(MEDRC) and Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) have

awarded scholarships to 16 Gaza students to study for MSc

degrees in subjects relevant to desalination and reuse. The

award of 12 more scholarships to West Bank students is

now underway. The Al Azhar, An Najah, Birzeit and Al

Quds Universities are involved in the program, and, since

it was started last year, the MEDRC-PWA CoE program has

awarded 21 MSc scholarships.

The American Membrane Technology Association

(AMTA) is offering funding opportunities for graduate level

research fellowships, undergraduate research and AMTA

event registration. The grants have been made possible by

a donation from the Affordable Desalination Collaboration

(ADC), which was organized to demonstrate that desal is

an affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible

source of fresh water. In March 2012, at the conclusion of its

activities, ADC directors donated its remaining reserves to

AMTA toprovide funding on an annual basis, through 2018

For details, visit http://tinyurl.com/nagtjnw.

On 5 September, Singapores PUB issued Tuaspring Desa

Plant a PCOD (Project Commercial Operations Date)

Certicate. Hyux delivered the 318,500 m3/d (84 MGD)

SWRO project under a DBOO model and is contracted to

deliver water to PUB for 25 years. Black & Veatch served as

PUBs engineer on the project.

The National Water Research Institute (NWRI) has

released two reports evaluating different aspects of

Californias recycled water criteria. The rst report,Review

of Californias Water Recycling Criteria for Agricultura

Irrigation, addresses whether recycled water used to irri-

gate food crops is sufciently protective of public health

Download at http://tinyurl.com/nyjuq8d. The second reportBDOC as a Performance Measure for Organics Remova

in Groundwater Recharge of Recycled Water, evaluates

an analytical technique to assess water quality during the

treatment process. Download at http://tinyurl.com/msht7nq

ACWA Emirates has installed two portable MBR wastewater

treatment systems at GASCOs Habshan 5 gas processing

and sulfur production facilities southwest of Abu Dhabi. The

units are tted with Kubota membranes and treat up to 980

m3/d (258,916 GPD) of domestic waste from a construction

camp housing up to 5,000 workers. MBR efuent is stored

in a holding tank for use in toilet ushing, dust dampeningand concrete production. About 45 m3 (12,000g) of sludge is

removed for disposal every three days.

Carnegie Water Energy said that it has signed a cooperation

agreement with the Water Corporation of Western Australia

which allows the Water Corporation to provide support of its

wave powered SWRO plant on Garden Island.

LANXESS has relocated its group headquarters from

Leverkusen to Cologne, Germany. It now occupies the

LANXESS Tower at Kennedyplatz 1 in the Deutz district.

People

Amy Childress, formerly a professor and department chair

at the University of Nevada, Reno, has been appointed

professor of civil and environmental engineering at the

University of Southern California. She is now based in Los

Angeles and may be contacted at amyec@usc.edu.