NEWS FEATURE

Worlds rst full-scale large-diameter SWRO desalination plant

owerSeraya Ltd as part of its Renewables Strategy has ofcially launched its new 10,000-m3/day seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant. The new desalination plant, sited at PowerSerayas Pulau Seraya Power Station on Jurong Island, Singapore, is set to propel the company to become the rst combined heat, water and power (CHWP) player in Southeast Asia. With the new desalination plant, water will become one of the three core components of PowerSerayas CHWP sales in the future. Customers on Jurong Island can look forward to a competitively-priced suite of energy products offered through the companys retail arm Seraya Energy Pte Ltd. The new water capability also spells opportunities for the company to expand into this area locally and even overseas in the future. Setting new standards in efciency, the new desalination plant is the worlds rst to use highly advanced 16-inch (400 mm) large diameter membrane SWRO technology, in what will become a global reference point for the desalination industry. The current industry standard is an 8-inch (200 mm) diameter.

Water sufciency and energy efciency

With water being a scarce commodity, this new desalination plant will provide a viable and sustainable source for PowerSerayas industrial applications. PowerSeraya earlier last year announced an investment in cogeneration enabling it to produce combined heat and power (CHP) for sale; taking the companys overall thermal process efficiency from approximately 50% to 80%. The new addition of water production to its integrated energy portfolio will create further efciencies through creating a CHWP platform for the company, in a drive to become more diversied, competitive and environmentally-friendly. PowerSerayas managing director Mr Neil McGregor said, In a resource-constrained world, the move to produce desalinated water as part of our process, is not only good for the environment, but it makes good business sense as well. As a business we have to continue to nd approaches of getting more for less in a sustainable way through innovation. Desalination is essentially liquid electrons and we are using our natural advantages of location next to the sea, existing

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infrastructure and off-peak electricity from which to create it. We are lucky to have a talented workforce and a supportive Union (Union of Power & Gas Employees) behind us to make this move and build up our capability in this area. the thickness of the concentration polarisation boundary and releasing microbubbles that actively scour the membrane surface. Each inlet ow distributor has 45 angled and evenly distributed holes to control the entry angle and ow velocity into the RO element. The GrahamTek RO technology also features an EMF device that prevents fouling on the membrane surface by inhibiting active crystal formation. Crystals that form under the conditions of an EMF are amorphous, and do not grow or scale. Further, the EMF encapsulates the water in the feed channel, and generates net movement in the direction of the concentrate stream. Cations and anions on the concentrate stream become electrically charged, and induce the feed channel to act as a semi-conductor to move forward in the direction of the magnetic eld.

Large-diameter SWRO membrane technology

The facility, engineered, procured and constructed (EPC) by US-based CH2M HILL, a global full-service engineering, construction and operations rm, is the worlds rst full-scale seawater desalination plant to use large-diameter SWRO membrane technology. Built at a cost of approximately S$20 million, the project was successfully delivered by CH2M HILL as the EPC contractor, over a fast-track schedule of 18 months, from contract signing to plant handover. The use of 16-inch diameter membrane elements instead of the current industry standard of 8-inch diameter results in signicant capital and operating cost savings to PowerSeraya. The 10,000-m3/day (2.64-MGD) SWRO desalination plant produces two customised grades of water: High-grade service water used for power production, and potable drinking water. CH2M HILL achieved signicant cost savings for the project by utilising the power plants existing infrastructure of cooling water intake, discharge outfalls and on-site storage tanks. The project was completed without a single lost time incident (LTI) over the 300,000 man hours required for construction, commissioning, and operation. The desalination plant features granular media ltration pretreatment and a two-pass SWRO system. CH2M HILL selected a SWRO technology supplied by GrahamTek for the new SWRO desalination plant. The GrahamTek technology uses 16-inch spiral wound reverse osmosis elements incorporated with an integrated ow distributor and electromagnetic eld device. Advantages of this technology include a reduced footprint and capability to operate at higher ow rates of about 1.5 times that of conventional SWRO technologies resulting in lower capital and operating costs.

Better plant utilisation

In the desalination process, electricity forms approximately 40% of its production cost. As PowerSeraya is able to use

GrahamTek RO technology

The GrahamTek RO technology uses 16-inch diameter RO elements equipped with an integrated ow distributor and electromagnetic eld (EMF) device. This technology boasts of advantages over conventional RO systems including: (a) capability to desalinate poorer quality raw water; (b) operation at higher uxes permeating through the RO membranes and reduced footprints; and (c) reduced likelihood of membrane scaling and the need for chemical addition for scale control of sparingly soluble salts. These benets will result in lower capital and operating expenses compared to using conventional 8inch RO systems. The integrated ow distributor is incorporated into the inlet and outlet ends of each 16-inch diameter RO element, and generates highly turbulent and spiral ow. This allows the RO element to operate at a higher water ux by decreasing
The GrahamTek technology uses 16-inch spiral wound reverse osmosis elements incorporated with an integrated ow distributor and electromagnetic eld device.

Water & Wastewater Asia January/February 2008

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electricity from its own source, it combines the process of making electricity and water; using sophisticated energy management systems during off peak periods when electricity demand and prices are lower. This results in a sustainable and efcient virtuous cycle of producing electricity to produce water, which in turn is used to produce electricity, or form the basis of steam sales the outcome is lower costs. Through this cycle, the cost of water to PowerSeraya is reduced by as much as 30%. At the heart of the cost reduction, is the deployment of the worlds rst full-scale 16-inch (400 mm) large diameter membrane. The doubling of the membrane diameter, from the conventional industry standard of 8-inch diameter, quadruples the active membrane surface area. This allows PowerSeraya to produce a higher water yield in a reduced footprint, compared to conventional SWRO technology resulting in lower capital and operating costs. The new desalination plant sets new standards by lowering the energy consumption from over 4 kWh/m3 for conventional small membrane plants to 2.85 kWh/m3. This translates to an equivalent of 30% reduction in electricity consumption and more signicantly cost, explains Mr McGregor. The new plant also uses a very effective energy management system to ramp up water production during low electricity price periods. At the heart of this operation are high efciency variable speed drive (VSD) pumps. With the ability to cycle production up and down to match variable electricity pricing during peak and off-peak periods, a further 10% savings can be realised compared to conventional constant-speed pumps. With water as a key ingredient in the production of utilities such as steam, all these savings represent sustainable development and the support of a growing competitive market for utilities on Jurong Island and PowerSeraya aims to be a key competitor in that market.

Building up new water capability to grow business in the future

PowerSeraya is in the business of producing, wholesaling, trading and retailing of energy. The addition of this water capability to its business prole further broadens its scope. The desalination plant is also in line with the direction of the company to expand into a full-edged energy hub on Jurong Island offering multiple commodities. Our move into water production is primarily aimed at self-sufciency. But if a water market was to evolve on Jurong Island or in Singapore in the future, we would be interested in expanding our capability. Similarly, we can leverage on this additional capability and replicate the CHWP footprint, in the future, to expand overseas. But any decision on this is not imminent. What it does give us are options for further growth and value creation, enthused Mr McGregor.

Integrated business approach to attain sustainable economic development

By harnessing its natural advantage of being near to deep and low salinity water and integrating its heat, water and power processes, PowerSeraya has been able to create an intelligent, virtuous cycle of electricity, steam and water generation. We have aligned ourselves to the national energy and water agenda. By integrating across and up the value chain, we have been able to attain self-sufciency, energy efciency and economies of scale; producing sustainable economic development. The launch of the SWRO desalination plant is yet another milestone and has allowed us grow our portfolio of non-regulated business and become Southeast Asias rst combined water, heat and power player. We aim to be that supplier of choice for our customers present and future needs, said Mr McGregor. WWA

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