The global water shortage problem is becoming increasingly severe, especially in the Arab region, where natural water scarcity and rapid population growth have led to increasing pressure on freshwater supply. Recently, a consortium consisting of the French Meridia Group and the French Suez Group successfully won the bid for the Aqaba Amman Water Desalination and Transportation Project in Jordan. The project has a daily water production capacity of 851000 tons and a total investment of approximately 4 billion euros, making it the world's second-largest seawater desalination project.

Overview of the Aqaba Amman Sea Water Project

Jordan is one of the countries with the most scarce water resources in the world, with a per capita annual available freshwater of less than 100 cubic meters. At present, Jordan mainly relies on importing water resources from Israel. According to the peace treaty signed in 1994, Israel provides 50 million cubic meters of water resources to Jordan annually through the King Abdullah Canal.

The project is implemented using a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model, with a franchise period consisting of a construction period and a 26 year operation period. After completion, the project will meet 40% of Jordan's national drinking water demand and benefit approximately 4 million people. The project content includes:

1. Aqaba Bay coastline seawater intake system

2. Reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant

3. A 450 kilometer long water pipeline network (with a height difference of over 1100 meters)

4. Large capacity pump station

5. Supporting renewable energy facilities

Core technology and process

This project adopts advanced membrane seawater desalination technology, with the core treatment unit being the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system. In response to the high salinity (43g/L) of the Red Sea, the project team designed a specialized pretreatment system. The produced water will undergo deep treatment according to its ultimate use, and when used as drinking water, it needs to undergo remineralization and disinfection treatment.

Concentrated saltwater treatment plan

The concentrated saltwater generated by the project will be discharged into the Red Sea area. It is worth mentioning that the project once considered an innovative solution of introducing concentrated saltwater into the Dead Sea to alleviate the problem of continuous shrinkage of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has a salinity of up to 34.2%, making it one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. Theoretically, it can accommodate the high salinity concentrated water produced by desalination plants.

Clean energy utilization

The project is equipped with a solar power plant with an annual power generation of 724 gigawatt hours, which uses molten salt thermal storage technology to achieve all-weather power supply. Solar photovoltaic panels generate electricity during the day and store thermal energy in a 600 ℃ heat storage device. At night, they continue to generate electricity through a thermal cycle, significantly improving energy utilization efficiency.

The French Suez Group has 60 years of rich experience in seawater desalination and has built over 260 seawater desalination projects worldwide, with a total scale of over 5 million tons per day. In the Chinese market, the 100000 ton/day seawater desalination project undertaken by the group in Penglai District, Yantai City, Shandong Province, was officially put into operation in April this year.

This project has received support from international organizations such as the United States International Development Finance Corporation and the European Union, which will significantly enhance Jordan's water resource security capabilities and set a new benchmark for large-scale seawater desalination projects worldwide. (This article is from the official website www.seetao.com of Jian Dao. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website infrastructure engineering column editor/Yang Beihua