Energy Recovery Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII), the leader in capturing reusable energy from industrial fluid flows and pressures cycles revealed that it will be part of ACCIONA Agua’s first contract for a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. The plant will process enough seawater to bring 100,000 m³ per day of potable water for residents and industrial uses.

Saudi Arabia’s Marafiq Power & Water Utility Company awarded ACCIONA Agua a contract to design, construct, and bring into service a desalination plant called SWRO-4 by the end of 2014. Construction began in 2012 on the mega-plant, which will use reverse osmosis (RO) to desalinate water for Al Jubail, a city in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Worldwide, most desalination planning and construction companies using energy recapture rely on Energy Recovery technologies to minimize energy costs. Despite the reality that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys some of the world’s least expensive electricity rates, Marafiq Power & Water Utility Company and ACCIONA Agua still chose Energy Recovery’s solutions because of the unique combination of economic payback and the PX® device’s proven ability to reduce the environmental footprint. Each year Energy Recovery’s technology will yield over 116 million kWh in energy savings for the Al Jubail plant and reduce carbon emissions by 68,000 metric tons (the equivalent of taking more than 14,000 cars off the road in the U.S.).

ACCIONA Agua’s International Construction Director and Project Manager for the Jubail Project, Manuel Manjón, notes, “Using Energy Recovery’s technology was important to our design because we want to offer Al Jubail the most technologically advanced, most efficient, most reliable RO plant possible. Given the size and scale of our Saudi project, we need our plant to run with the best technology, and we’re getting that from Energy Recovery.  We have been implementing isobaric Pressure Exchangers for the majority of our desalination plants for almost a decade and the device’s performance has always exceeded our expectations.”

“We look forward to collaborating with our clients on this important project,” states Tom Rooney, CEO of Energy Recovery. “Considering the Kingdom’s low energy costs, the PX technology was chosen to ensure high reliability and the smallest environmental footprint – which speaks volumes about Marafiq and Acciona’s commitment to stay ahead of the technology curve – and to preserve the environment.”

Situated along the coast of the Persian Gulf, Al Jubail has intense water needs. More than 50 percent of the Kingdom’s drinking water comes from desalination- a number steadily growing as unrenewable sources are depleted for the population that has quadrupled over 40 years. Energy Recovery’s technologies for recapturing and reusing energy from fluid flows have already proven highly efficient in several of Saudi Arabia’s other desalination plants. Al Jubail has three smaller RO plants, some operating with legacy centrifugal energy recovery technology; this new ACCIONA Agua desalination plant will double the current potable water available for the city’s residents and its industrial complex.

Additional Release Details

For an animated video showing how the PX device works, click here.
ACCIONA Agua: http://www.acciona-agua.com

About Energy Recovery

Energy Recovery Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) technology harvests power from high-pressure fluid flows and pressure cycles.  Through collaboration with industry, Energy Recovery helps make industrial processes within water, oil & gas, and other industries more profitable and environmentally sustainable.  With over 14,000 energy recovery devices installed worldwide, Energy Recovery sets the standard for engineering excellence, cost savings, and technical services to clients across the globe.  Year after year, the company’s clean technologies save clients over $1.2 Billion (USD) in energy costs.  Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Energy Recovery has offices in Madrid, Shanghai, and Dubai.    www.energyrecovery.com