Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, Yokogawa Saudi Arabia, has received an order from the Saline Water Conversion Corporation to supply control systems and other solutions for the One Million Project, which will introduce seawater reverse osmosis (RO) technology at the Al Jubail desalination plant, a world-scale facility with a water production capacity of 1 million m3 per day. The construction contractor for this project is a consortium between Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works Company and Metito Saudi Arabia.
The Al Jubail plant is located in Jubail, a city on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. This project will replace the existing multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) facilities with RO facilities. Extending the life of the existing plant is seen to be a more environmentally friendly approach than constructing an all-new plant. In the Middle East, the use of fossil fuel-intensive desalination processes was once the mainstream. However, with the advances in membrane filtration techniques that have been achieved in recent years, more and more plants are now turning to the use of the RO technology, which emits less CO2 and produces water using less energy. This project is part of Saudi Arabia’s Net Zero Vision 2060 initiative, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
For this project, Yokogawa will provide control systems, safety instrumented systems, production management systems, operator training simulators, and cybersecurity solutions. Installation is set to be completed by January 2024, and the new facilities are expected to be fully operational by December 2024. Yokogawa has been involved in over 100 desalination plant projects worldwide, including the supply of control systems for desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, and also monitoring systems for pipelines that transport desalinated water to urban areas.
Kunimasa Shigeno, President & CEO of Yokogawa Saudi Arabia, commented, “Saudi Arabia relies on seawater desalination for the majority of its drinking water, and demand for it is increasing as the population grows. With our experience working with the water infrastructure sectors in countries around the world and our expertise in the use of digital technology to improve efficiency in plant operations, Yokogawa will contribute not only to providing a stable supply of drinking water but also to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”