Saudi Arabia to spend $46.6m on mobile desalination plants

Saudi Arabia plans to spend SR175m ($46.6m) annually on mobile  desalination plants to increase its drinking water supplies.

The mobile plants will initially be deployed to Jazan and Asir regions and then moved to other regions, reported Arab News.

There is an increasing demand for water in the country. The mobile units will help the country provide water until the projects presently being developed are completed.

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, who is also the chairman of the Saline Water Conservation Corporation (SWCC) Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli was quoted by the publication as saying: “This generous order to allocate this amount annually will contribute to the increase of the corporation’s supply of desalinated water in a short time, until the completion of the corporation’s current projects.”

SWCC is shortly expected to invite firms to submit their bids.

These mobile plants will use reverse osmosis (RO) technology that also saves energy.

Last August, Energy Recovery, a provider of pressure energy technology for industrial fluid flows, has secured contracts, worth $2.5m, to supply its PXTM Pressure ExchangerTM technology for desalination projects in Saudi Arabia.

Energy Recovery supplied its PX-Q300 and PX-220 Pressure Exchanger devices for the plants.

These plants are capable of producing a total of up to 103,000m3 of water everyday.