Water and wastewater technology company, Aquatech, has installed a 60 Ml/d seawater reverse osmosis-based desalination plant at Ghalilah, in Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
UAE is seeking to reduce its dependence on groundwater by 90% over the next two years. FEWA awarded Aquatech the engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contract to build the plant. Aquatech will provide operations supervision and support to FEWA.
The US$ 82 million plant was commissioned in March 2015 and supplies drinking water for the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. It is FEWA’s largest desalination plant to date.
“This facility is a pioneer plant in term of the latest technologies that were used, which enables FEWA to save millions of Dirhams in term of reducing power consumption,” said director general of FEWA, His Excellency Mohammed Mohammed Saleh.
Aquatech provided the core reverse osmosis plant, the seawater intake, ultrafiltration, post-treatment, and a sophisticated system for performance enhancement and data monitoring.
The company supplied dissolved air flotation technology to protect the plant from seasonal red tides of harmful algal blooms which can affect the taste and odour of the water and cause a plant shut down.