RIYADH — The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on research cooperation with the US-based Fluid Technology Solutions Inc. The American water treatment plant is renowned for innovation leadership in the field of water desalination with a strong track record in developing and manufacturing energy recovery equipment. According to the memorandum, a modern energy recovery device will be used in the reverse osmosis desalination processes in desalination plants. This will contribute to reduce energy consumption by more than 50%, increase the production of desalinated water by 20%, and raise the degree of brine concentration to 15%, as well as cut its cost in excess of 15%. The MoU comes in support of desalination efforts in establishing fruitful and constructive cooperation relations with global partners, and as a fruit of the success of the global electronic symposium that the SWCC has organized to introduce the zero-return technology to strengthen possible areas of cooperation with local or international partners. The MoU also gains importance from the fact that it coincides with the process of moving to the second stage of the application of the zero salt return technique in the desalination plants, especially after the remarkable success that was achieved during the first phase. The second stage is based on reducing the operational and capital costs of the zero salt return technology by increasing concentration of brine and reducing costs of extracting precious metals from the waste of desalination plants, and reducing costs of producing desalinated water from seawater. The SWCC is keen to intensify its research and application efforts and to invest its technical and engineering expertise in developing the desalination industry and refurbishing the existing plants by increasing their operational efficiency and improving the quality of their products. This is in addition to supporting the fruitful and creative cooperation with partners to manufacture spare parts, support and localize local content, in line with strategies and plans to empower the desalination industry and supplement its effective contribution to achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.
