Dow to supply membranes for new Perth plant

Dow Water & Process Solutions is to supply FilmTec™ reverse osmosis (RO) elements for the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant (SSDP) outside Perth, Australia.

The SSDP will use SWRO 440-series elements in a two-pass RO system for seawater and brackish water, producing 50-100 million m³ of drinking water annually.

Kai-Uwe Hoehn, senior account manager for large projects at Dow, said, “This project is also utilizing a combination of advanced design features – internally staged design and a permeate split – to maximize performance of the desalination technologies”

Currently, the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, at Cockburn Sound, provides 17% of Perth’s water needs. At the completion of the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant project in late 2011, more than 30% of Western Australia’s water supply will come from climate independent sources like desalination.

Construction of the plant began in July 2009, and upon completion, an intensive ocean monitoring program will analyze the plant’s seawater discharge to ensure the ongoing health of the marine environment.