Sumitomo ties up with VA TECH Wabag
India’s VA TECH WABAG has signed an agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to expand into large concession projects in water and wastewater treatment. The Indian company will leverage its Japanese partner’s financial strength, network and expertise in implementing large infrastructure projects across the world. In the GCC region, Sumitomo has been involved in desalination projects at Al Hidd in Bahrain and Shuweihat in the UAE.
Hitachi bags ‘supercritical’ pump deal in Egypt
Hitachi Plant Technologies has bagged a contract to supply 32 pumps for Egypt’s first supercritical thermal power plant. The order covers the manufacture and delivery of 32 pumps, including pumps for boiler feed water and re-circulating pumps, four steam turbines for the pump drive and 24 electric motors, all scheduled for delivery in December 2012. The pumps will be delivered to the El Ain El Sokhna Supercritical Thermal Power Plant located in the Ain Sokhna district on the Gulf of Suez. In supercritical thermal power plants, pumps capable of handling high speeds, high temperatures, and high pressures are essential due to the very high discharge pressures of boiler feed pumps.
Investment in desalination to double
While the capital costs associated with desalination plant construction remain high, a Pike Research report finds that costs are falling steadily for several key technologies, which will make desalination more affordable. The firm forecasts that increased construction of desalination plants will generate a cumulative capital investment of $87.8 billion worldwide during the period from 2010 to 2016. Pike Research president Clint Wheelock said, “Desalination market growth is being driven by a combination of dwindling water resources, population growth and urbanisation, and lower desalination costs. While we are forecasting a slowdown in the market over the next two years, largely due to the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, the outlook for the longer term remains strong and we anticipate that desalination capital investment will double within six years.”
Eni to fund desal plant in Libya
Italian energy major Eni will construct a desalination plant as part of a MoU signed with the Libyan government. Eni will invest in a social project in the El Agheila area in the Gulf of Sirte, which aims to build thousand houses and related infrastructure, a shipping port and industrial facilities (which includes the desalination plant). Along with Libyan government, Eni will be part of the steering committee, which will lead the works. The Italian company is the largest foreign player in Libya in the hydrocarbon sector.
Norit UF membranes for Singapore project
Norit X-Flow’s XIGA ultra-filtration (UF) membranes will be used in the Lower Seletar Waterworks project in Singapore. With the capacity to process 300MLD of raw water into drinking water, the Lower Seletar Waterworks will be one of the largest drinking water plants in Singapore that utilises UF at the front of its treatment process. It will also be the first drinking water plant in Singapore to use a pressurised UF membrane system. “The use of XIGA membranes for drinking water production could potentially reduce the cost of downstream disinfection and provide cost savings for the end-user,” said Duane Schlicht, Managing Director, Norit Asia Pacific.
Titanium replaces coppernickel in Ras Az zour
Uniti, a joint venture between Allegheny Technologies (ATI) and VSMPO-Avisma Corp, will provide nearly six million pounds of CP titanium strip to be made into tubes for the Ras Az zour desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. According to a press release, the use of titanium in place of the traditional choice of copper-nickel alloy was achieved on the strength of competitive pricing. The release also estimated Ras Azzour’s total titanium requirement to be in the range of 6,200 tonnes. Earlier, L Patrick Hassey, ATI’s chairman and CEO projected a requirement of 12 million to 15 million pounds of titanium tubes and piping per desalination project.
NWC selects Accenture for IT
Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) has awarded Accenture the contract to develop and implement a range of Oracle-based solutions that cover customer care and billing, a customer portal, enterprise asset management and middleware for the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah. “Our aim is to transform the quality of water services across Saudi Arabia’s major cities,” said Loay Al-Musallam, CEO, NWC. Accenture will also provide maintenance and support of the new infrastructure for a year and will be responsible for the change management programme to help the company’s leadership and staff introduce new business processes.
