Water and wastewater technology firm, Aquatech, has won a contract to design and supply a multiple effect distillation (MED) seawater desalination system for Oman’s Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic).
Orpic specified MED technology for its Sohar refinery improvement project in Oman. It requires uninterrupted water supply to boilers and other site needs including service water and potable water.
Aquatech’s services under the deal will include design, equipment supply, testing and commissioning of three MED units, with accessories and post treatment systems, to produce distilled water within a “challenging schedule as demanded by the project.” The desalination plant is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2016.
Aquatech is supplying the system to a Petrofac – Daelim Joint Venture that has the full engineering, procurement and construction contract for the entire refinery project.
“Our MED technology – a cornerstone of this project – has been developed and enhanced over decades of in-house research and onsite experience worldwide. It will provide a reliable source of water, which is very critical for operation of the refinery, considering that the area is prone to red tide, which affects the operation of desalination systems,” said Aquatech sales manager, Sandeep Rastogi.
The Aquatech system will comprise:
three fractional electrodeionization (FEDI) demineralization units, each with a capacity of 3,360 m³/d for boiler feed water with less than 0.1 parts per million of dissolved solids; and
two remineralization dosing skids for the production of service water and potable water.
The desalination facility will treat seawater from the Indian Ocean to produce pure water with less than 5 mg/l of total dissolved solids. Plant steam will be used to provide the energy to operate the desalination units.