RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -The first FILMTEC Reverse Osmosis elements have been shipped from the Saudi Arabia Dow Water & Process Solutions’ (DW&PS) Jubail Operations manufacturing facility.
The new reverse osmosis (RO) production facility came on-stream in December 2015 to serve the local Saudi Arabian market and help meet increased demand for RO in Middle East and Africa regions, as well as Eastern Europe, India, China and Southeast Asia.
Dow’s wholly owned Jubail Operations is located in Jubail Industrial City II within the Sadara Chemical Company complex, the joint venture developed by Dow and Saudi Aramco.
The plant manufactures FILMTEC RO membranes for seawater and brackish water desalination and for water reuse of potable, non-potable and industrial water.
Dow anticipates that RO elements manufactured at its Jubail Operations have the capability to reduce the oil requirement to distill water in the region by approximately 10MM barrels per year – equivalent to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from 900,000 passenger vehicles driven per year.
The company is also researching RO solutions in combination with ultrafiltration pre-treatment for seawater desalination at the Dow Middle East Research and Development Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
Yochai Gafni, business unit director for RO at DW&PS, a business unit of Dow, said: “Through rapid urban economic growth, annual domestic water demand in the Middle East and North Africa countries is estimated to more than triple over the next 20-30 years.”
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