When speed counts, a turnkey desalination plant won’t appear overnight, but a modular unit might
Packed, but not tightly, into a standard-sized shipping container, Aqualyng’s first Fast Water units arrived in the Gulf in March.
The first two units are destined for Iran’s Kish Island, where they will provide the local power and water company with additional capacity, for irrigation and tourism use. Hospitality is just one of the sectors Nick Powell, president of Aqualyng Water Solutions, sees as a target market for the product.
“Kish currently has some medium size turnkey reverse osmosis (RO) plants that are not able to keep up with demand as the island’s population grows,” he said. “Fast Water offered a quick cost effective way of expanding capacity.”
Powell describes the containerised RO units as ‘plug and play’. With some basic civil works prepared by the customer, once the units arrive on site they can be connected to a water intake system and powered up.
“The membranes and technology do the work and provide clean water at the back end, simple as that,” said Powell.
“Design is a big part of the product. There are lots of containers where everything is just stuffed in. One of the advantages we feel we have is the way things are laid out. You can access every key component easily and the layout of the product assists in how the unit can be operated maintained, which is good for longevity.”
Short lead-times are an essential part of the product if it is to successfully be a temporary, or emergency solution and Aqualyng claim an availability time of between 8-10 weeks. In producing its mobile water product Aqualyng essentially acts as an integrator, bringing together tried and tested components from well-known industry brands. It holds many of these components in stock to avoid frequently long lead times. It also deploys its own proprietary energy recovery technology, known as a recuperator, to improve the unit’s energy efficiency.
“Price-wise we are at the upper end of the lower third of the sector,” said Powell. “We believe we have a higher quality of product in terms of design and we make clients aware of all key component suppliers – Siemens PLC, Fedco pumps, Dow membranes. Tying ourselves to those suppliers adds credibility to what we’re offering.”
What stands out when you see the container is the level of access. The internal design leaves plenty of space for technicians to get to and work on essential equipment.
This makes the regular up keep of the unit an easier proposition for customers, who purchase the units on a capital cost basis – a key point of difference when compared to Aqualyng’s competition. Currently the units are available in two capacity ranges, 500m3 per day and 1000m3 per day.
The latter is actually in two containers. One is a pre-filtration unit using multi media filters and a typical design contains three of these units in a 40ft container. This then sits alongside another container with membranes pumps and control works.
The product was first conceptualised around eight months ago and Aqualyng has been bringing it to market over the last three months.
“Our preferred business model is capital sale, but we are prepared to lease them under the right circumstances,” said Powell. “When you compare it to competing technologies, tankered water is more costly and more inconvenient and if you’re looking at a more permanent installation, it could be four or five times the amount in terms of dollar value.”
Powell sees the opportunity for the product as having been created by the widening acceptance of RO technology together with the search for lower cost options within that technology segment.
“There is no strong competitor in this market place,” said Powell. “There are a number of RO producers in the region, but none really play in this market. There are custom design options, but that puts the price up and pushes the lead time out. Without parts in stock and a design ready, lead-time could be 20-25 weeks.”
Powell still considers prospects in the market pretty good. Aqualyng conservatively expects to sell 25-30 units this year and believes that once that foothold is established the figure can double in 2010. The company believes there are still plenty of opportunities within the construction industry. With many projects now looking at much shorter horizons, modular desalination options may prove more attractive than permanent installations in the future.
“If they decide later they want a permanent plant or a project fails, these units can be picked up and moved,” said Powell. “There has been a bit of a cascade on some projects, customers are almost down trading to flexible lower capital cost products.”
While the first two units are going to Kish, there is a commitment in place for a further six units once they are operationally proven on site. Current units produce potable water from seawater, but expansions to the range are being considered. These include different size options and a unit designed to deal with brackish water.
“The brackish option will allow us to take the product inland,” commented Powell. “The product is less technical, lower cost and can include other filtration requirements, but the principles are the same. We’re also looking at skid-mounted options, for situations where there is already a sheltering structure in place.”
Also on the market…
MobileFlow
An articulated trailer-mounted option from GE Water, each MobileFlow system contains six rubber-lined ASME code steel tanks of a uniform size. The selection of the tanks defines the application of the units, which can include demineralisation, filtration, deoxygenation, softening and condensate polishing.
FlexRO
FlexRO reverse osmosis units are skid-mounted, self-contained systems from Siemens Water Technology. The independently operated reverse osmosis units can be configured in parallel or in series.
