In recent years the Gulf countries have been actively making investments in infrastructure with the help of rising crude oil prices. In particular, there are a number of plans to build seawater desalination plants for securing drinking water supplies. The water temperature of the Arabian Gulf is 35 degree Celsius or higher and the seawater has a high salt content of 5%. For these reasons desalination in the region has been produced primarily with evaporation processes which require heavy energy use. Adoption of RO membrane plants have been limited because of the perception that RO is a difficult process to run.
Toray has an unmatched record in the supply of RO membranes "ROMEMBRA®" to plants in the Arabian Gulf countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Until now no large-scale RO desalination plant had been built on the UAE’s Arabian Gulf side. Toray’s outstanding track record in harsh salt waters paved the way to its winning the back-to-back orders announced in this press release.
With these two orders, Toray will be supplying its membranes to desalination plants in UAE for a total capacity of 480,000 cubic meters of water per day. The plants under FEWA (the four emirates in the Northern region) will account for 245,000 cubic meters per day of the total. The construction of the two new plants is expected to stimulate the adoption of RO desalination methods in the Arabian Gulf region. Toray is determined to contribute to the spread of RO methods in the region by leveraging its cutting-edge membrane technology.
Toray has supplied RO membranes "ROMEMBRA®" to plants which making more than 25.7 million cubic meters of water per day, This equals enough water for domestic use for more than 1 million people (about 1.5% of the world population). The RO membranes "ROMEMBRA®" Toray has supplied for seawater desalination cumulatively produce more than 6 million cubic meters per day, giving Toray the biggest market share in the field.
The global RO membrane market has been expanding fueled by worsening global water shortages and the need for conservation of water resources in response to environmental considerations. In addition to existing applications, including drinking water and pure water for industrial use from seawater and brine desalination, membranes are now being used to reclaim water from urban sewage and industrial wastewater. The demand for membranes is likely to keep growing steadily, primarily in regions including North America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and China, while the demand in emerging countries including India and those in Latin America is also expected to expand.
Toray began research on RO membranes in 1968, and now produces a full line of RO, Nanofiltration (NF), Ultrafiltration (UF) and Microfiltration (MF) membranes developed with its own technology. The company will continue to actively pursue orders in the growing global market by leveraging its world-class water treatment expertise based on the core technologies of synthetic organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Under its medium-term management program “Project AP-G 2013” launched in April 2011, Toray is implementing the Green Innovation Business Expansion (GR) Project, and the water treatment business, which is aimed at addressing global issues including environmental, resource-related and energy issues, is positioned as one of the core areas of the project. Toray aims to solidify its position as the leading company in the water treatment business through the strengthening and expansion of its global sales network, improvement and enhancement of its production facilities and capacity, and development of new technologies and products.
