Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.toray.com) announced that it has received orders for ROMEMBRA reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for the Shoaibah 3 Extension 2 and Shoaibah 4 Desalination Plants in Saudi Arabia, which will make the site the nation’s largest RO desalination complex. The new systems will enable the site to produce a total of 650,000 cubic meters of water per day. The second expansion of Shoaibah 3 desalination plant brings the site’s capacity to 250,000 m3/day, and the expansion of the Shoaibah 4 desalination plant will add another 400,000 m3/d once it starts up in January 2020. Abengoa S.A., Fisia Italimpianti SpA and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction contributed to the construction efforts for the desalination plant expansions.
The supply of RO membranes, as well as the technical services, are provided by Toray’s local subsidiary, Toray Membrane Middle East LLC. (TMME).
Shoaibah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city, located around 120 kilometers south of Jeddah, has decided to implement the RO method in its first expansion of the Shoaibah 3 desalination complex, which has been producing up to 150,000 cubic meters of water daily after going online in 2009.