A US$ 14 million contract for a 15,000 m³/d seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant for the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) Research Park in Saudi Arabia has been awarded to AES Arabia Ltd.
The contractor for the whole research park is China National Chemical Engineering Company under the management of Saudi Aramco. AES Arabia, a Riyadh-based water and wastewater management company, has long experience with Saudi Aramco work.
The seawater will be sourced from a deep-water open intake and will be extensively pretreated before it is pumped into the desalination plant. The desalted water will be further treated for the removal of boron and subsequently remineralized to meet WHO standards.
Although built for a research institution, the plant design and manufacturing will be according to the stringent standards followed in all Saudi Aramco oil and gas projects.
AES Arabia has previously built an 8,000 m³/d membrane bioreactor sewage treatment plant and participated in the construction of the main 52,000 m³/d SWRO desalination plant for KAUST. Updated on 8 September 2012