Aquatech, a global leader in water and wastewater technologies for the industrial and infrastructure markets, has been awarded a contract to design and supply a Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) seawater desalination system for Orpic's Sohar Refinery Improvement Project in Oman.

Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) specified MED technology for uninterrupted water supply to boilers and other site needs, said a statement from the company.

The desalination facility will supply pure water to boilers, service water as well as potable water, it said.

Aquatech's scope of services includes design, equipment supply, testing and commissioning of three MED units, complete with accessories and post treatment systems, to produce distilled water within a challenging schedule as demanded by the project, it added.

The company is supplying the system to a Petrofac - Daelim Joint Venture that has the full engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the whole refinery project.

Sandeep Rastogi, sales manager - Middle East, Aquatech, said: “Aquatech is committed to ongoing innovation in the solutions it provides to customers around the globe.”

“Our MED technology - a cornerstone of this project - has been developed and enhanced over decades of in-house research and onsite experience worldwide. It will provide a reliable source of water, which is very critical for operation of the refinery, considering that the area is prone to red tide, which affects the operation of desalination systems,” he added.


The system is expected to be commissioned in early 2016, and will comprise:

•    Three Multiple Effect Distillation with Thermal Vapor Compression (MED-TVC) units, each with a net capacity of 5,352 cu m/day.

•    Three Fractional Electrodeionization (FEDI(®)) demineralisation units, each with a capacity of 3,360 cu m/day of ultrapure water for boiler feed.

•    Two remineralisation dosing skids for the production of service water and potable water.

The desalination facility will treat seawater from the Indian Ocean to produce pure water with less than five mg/l of total dissolved solids, said the statement.

Plant steam will be used to provide the energy to operate the desalination units. It is designed for a performance Gain Output Ratio (GOR) of over 6.3, it said.

The demineralisation system consists of the patented FEDI process and will provide ultra-pure water with less than 0.1 ppm of dissolved solids for boiler feed water, it added. – TradeArabia News Service