About The Event
The Roadmap to Desalination Cost Reduction: Lessons Learned
With the award of the Hassyan (Dubai) desalination project to ACWA Power, a new low-cost record has been set, challenging the desalination industry to beat the tariff of 0.365$/m3. Since 2017, desalination project developers have been able to reduce desalination costs and energy consumption, without relying on revolutionary innovative membranes and materials, and mainly depending on the cumulative incremental improvements that are a result of smart engineering. The most impactful approaches to cost reduction will be discussed, as well as the commonly reoccurring mistakes.
One of the results of this cost savings approach is that SWRO membranes have been highly commoditized and membrane manufacturers have automated their production processes to lower production costs and improve product quality. This means that any innovation in membranes and materials is struggling against a highly competitive cost of conventional membranes and that any increase in membrane costs need to be compensated by a reduction in other costs.
Besides the commercial challenge, there is the technical challenge of scaling up innovative membranes to a commercial size 8” membrane element, which typically requires the skills of an industrial membrane manufacturer. End user partnerships can facilitate the collaboration between universities and industrial parties.
