The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) is celebrating the inaugural shipment of its Dow Filmtec Reverse Osmosis (RO) elements from its new Saudi Arabia Dow Water & Process Solutions’ (DW&PS) Jubail Operations manufacturing facility. This first shipment is targeted to serve emerging markets.
A first of its kind built outside the United States, the new reverse osmosis production facility came onstream in December 2015 to better serve the local Saudi Arabian market and help meet aggressively growing demands for RO in Middle East and Africa regions, as well as Eastern Europe, India, China and Southeast Asia.
“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,” said Yochai Gafni, business unit director for RO at DW&PS, a business unit of Dow. “To combat regional water scarcity challenges and address this growing resource demand, Jubail Operations will help deliver a robust local supply of cutting-edge technologies for municipal and industrial water applications.”
Dow’s wholly owned Jubail Operations is located in Jubail Industrial City II within the fully integrated Sadara Chemical Company complex, the joint venture developed by Dow and Saudi Aramco. The plant manufactures Filmtec RO elements for seawater and brackish water desalination and for water reuse of potable, non-potable and industrial water.