Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is close to appointing a firm to build a desalination plant at its operation in Brazil, reports Reuters.
The company wants to reduce its reliance on state water utility Cesan amid concerns about future water shortages. The Espirito Santo utility told ArcelorMittal to reduce consumption by 30 per cent during a water crisis in 2015.
The decision will be made in February 2019 to award the contract that is worth BRL 50 million ($13.2 million). Firms from India, Spain and the US are among those in the running.
The new plant will be a modular reverse osmosis facility with capacity of 12,000 m3/d initially and the option to expand. It will consume electricity produced by the steel mill. The completion date is slated for 2021.
“What we are doing is insurance so that if there is another rationing event we can respond,” ArcelorMittal’s president of flat steel operations in Brazil Jorge Ribeiro told Reuters.