Saudi Arabia Is Localizing The Water Desalination Industry

"Desalination" signs an agreement to mine brine water with investments from the private sector, to contribute to the GDP by 1.5 billion riyals annually in 2030.

The Saline Water Conversion Corporation has signed a number of agreements with local and international companies, in technologies for mining brine reflux water and reverse osmosis membranes, with total financial investments from the local and international private sector starting in its first phase with one billion and one hundred million riyals, and that was in a press conference held on Saturday in The Saudi capital, Riyadh, where the conference was sponsored by His Excellency the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdul Rahman Al Semari, CEO of the Local Content Authority.

Where the agreements that were signed included the additional desalination agreement for the mining of brine reflux water, with the two specialized chemistry companies for industry, and (Naqqia TP Saudi Arabia), which is dedicated to mining brine reflux water and extracting precious metals and salts, with the aim of achieving an additional value in the gross domestic product of up to 1.5 billion. riyals annually in 2030, in addition to the production of high-quality desalinated water, and the extraction of bromine, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and lithium at different stages, which are used in the oil and gas industry, medicine, construction, food industries and various chemical industries.

Desalination also concluded an agreement of cooperation and engineering support for Saudi companies specialized in the construction of desalination plants and water transmission systems, as these companies have proven their ability and high seriousness in localizing engineering and technical works during their recent work with the Corporation to build desalination plants and giant transport systems, which are 100% Saudi companies. Introduced by the Rawafed Industry Company and Bahour Company, while they signed a contract to localize the manufacture of reverse osmosis membranes for desalinated water, and it was announced the establishment of an integrated stage factory, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East for the manufacture of reverse osmosis membranes, and the second integrated factory in the world outside Japan, with Saudi and foreign investment. The project is carried out in partnership with the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, where Toray Middle East willThe establishment of the factory with various production lines, and the quality and efficiency of the product is the highest in the world in its indicators of reducing energy consumption and longevity and adopting advanced concepts in serving the environment. In the Kingdom and the Gulf by 2025, the product that the Saline Water Conversion Corporation will participate in is characterized by a research development in reducing the average cost by more than (14%), and reducing energy consumption at a rate starting from (4%).

For his part, His Excellency the Governor of Desalination, Engineer Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Abd Al-Karim, explained: “The environmentally friendly reverse osmosis membrane industry today represents one of the most important capabilities of the desalination industry in the world, and the demand for it is increasing at an annual rate of 6% locally and 7% in the Gulf, and we aimed to localize it.” Being a basic and strategic product, it creates a new industrial value that contributes to advancing economic growth and diversification, and that the production of the factory will start in 2025 and will achieve a return on GDP of 1.14 billion within 5 years, with an annual impact on the trade balance of 135 million riyals, and it serves in addition to the water sector, the oil sectors And gas and industry, with a production capacity of 254 thousand membranes, 10% of which meets the needs of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, while 55% is allocated to the local water sector, compared to 5% for the oil and gas sector, with 30% of the products being exported to cover external demand. % of production inputs will be sourced within the Kingdom.

He added: We share with the stakeholders and a number of sectors, owners of industrial facilities and contractors the next steps for the future of the water desalination industry, and we proceed in this from an integrated and economic perspective that focuses on the gains that accrue to the people of the country with goodness and sustainable benefit, to produce a new generation and a young national leadership in light of the availability of Its components lie in the strength and competence of Saudi contractors, who now have high capabilities to participate uniquely and distinguished in the establishment of major projects in water desalination and to export their expertise and industrial knowledge abroad, especially in light of the presence of giant production systems that are built with large capacities globally of up to 600 thousand cubic meters / day with advanced technologies. RO.

His Excellency continued: The Non-oil Revenue Development Center, which is a center based on thought and adopting initiatives offered by the private and public sectors to serve the national economy and raise the domestic product, was a good aid for the Corporation’s initiatives in stimulating private sector investments, which makes us have promising opportunities in maximizing the benefit from the desalination industry and other industries. associated with it, which contributes positively to the output of desalinated water, and we also have a high potential to serve many diverse sectors according to a view based on a sense of national responsibility. Today, we are signing an agreement with a Saudi company to invest in the production of bromine, in quantities amounting to 16 thousand tons, covering 30% of the domestic demand in 2024, in addition to its contribution to the GDP of 150 million riyals annually for the years 2024 and 1.