Engineering design of Skikda Seawater Desalination Plant

Abstract

Skikda Seawater Desalination Plant (SWDP) is located in the northern part of Algeria (Mediterranean Sea) and will have a total production of 100,000 m3/d. It is being developed under a 25-year DBOOT contract with Algerian Electrical Company (AEC) in a Joint Venture named GEIDA (Bef-esa-Sadyt) in order to supply water for human consumption to the area. Based on reverse osmosis (RO) technology, the raw water is driven from a seawater open intake to the pre-treatment stage which consists on two filtration steps with sand and anthracite. After cartridge filters as a security barrier prior to the RO process, this is designed with five independent RO lines equipped with pressure exchangers as energy recovery devices. Finally, the post-treatment will be made by means of dolomite filter beds to get the optimal quality conditions. This paper shows the design of a high efficiency SWDP that will significantly increase the water resources of the region.