Spanish desalination contractor Cadagua has ordered PX‑Q300 pressure‑exchangers from Energy Recovery Inc (ERI) for the first phase of the Jorf Lasfar seawater desalination plant in Morocco.
The plant is at a mine owned by L’Office Cherifien des Phosphates. The first phase will have a total capacity of 75,800 m³/d, while the ultimate size of the plant will be 225,000 m³/d.
This is Cadagua‘s and ERI‘s first large project in Morocco, and Kristan Kirsch, senior marketing manager for ERI, told D&WR that the company had been contracted to supply the PX‑Q300 energy-recovery devices following the success of the units in the seawater desalination plant at Ashdod, Israel.
Jorf Lasfar is a deepwater commercial port located south of Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, and the project is the first phosphate mining operation in Morocco and the largest desalination plant with significant output. It involves both the municipal and industrial sectors working in concert with large amounts of potable water being made available for nearby populations.
Kirsch said that the project helped an 87% year‑on‑year growth for ERI in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region from 2011 to 2012, and exemplified growth trends in the MENA region for desalination and mining.