KAIA SWRO Desalination Plant
The project is located on the Red Sea in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The capacity of the potable water production is 42,500 m3/day using Reverse Osmosis (RO). Seawater is extracted from the seawater intake system by Seawater Supply Pumps and transported to RO membranes through Dual Media Filters and Cartridge Filters. The Potabilization System comprises CO2 Production Plant, CO2 Storage and Dosing System, and Hydrated Lime Storage and Dosing System. The plant has been in operation since 2009.
The facility was designed and supplied on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis by Qatarat Saqia Desalination Company (QSDC) and O & M was awarded to Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co. Integrated Services Ltd. (HAAISCO).
KAIA SWRO Desalination Plant is the sole exclusive provider of potable water to KAIA International Airport. The airport is a travel hub as well as a destination to more than 30 million passengers per year including all pilgrims traveling for Ramadan, Hajj, and Umra purposes.
Sustainability:
Technologies and Solutions:
Seawater Intake System
Seawater intake screens are provided to screen out floating debris and marine life at the point of seawater withdrawal to protect the downstream intake pumping. Screened raw seawater to the downstream multimedia filters is supplied from the Seawater Intake Pumps.
Sodium Hypochlorite for shock chlorination and Ferric Chloride for coagulation. Onsite Electro-chlorination system is used to produce sodium hypochlorite from seawater.
Multimedia filters are provided to filter prescreened raw seawater at the required quality and quantity for the downstream Cartridge Filters and RO process.
Six (6) units of RO Pass-1 and three (3) units of RO Pass-2 are provided to produce a total net capacity of 42,500 m3/day. Sodium Bisulfite and Antiscalant are dosed for pre-treatment prior to feeding the filtered seawater to downstream RO pass 1 units. RO Pass 1 energy recovery system i.e., Turbocharger and the associated piping.
The complete permeate from RO Pass-2 and partial permeate from RO Pass-1 are blended and collected in a Blending tank.
Post-treatment (Remineralization)
The blended permeate water from RO pass-1 and pass-2 is aggressive in nature. Therefore, remineralization is carried out by dosing lime solution along with carbonic acid solution in the blended RO permeate water line to condition (remineralize) the desalinated water prior to final distribution and use.
There is an onsite plant for the generation of carbon dioxide thru burning of diesel fuel.
Sodium hypochlorite is also dosed to maintain sanitary conditions in the potable water storage, transmission and distribution piping.
Potable (remineralized) water is then transferred to the downstream Product Water Storage Tanks for onward transmission to KAIA Jeddah through pumps.
