Help Offered to Largest Desalination Plant in Spain Operating with Pressurised Ultrafiltration as Pretreatment Deliver Freshwater for Municipal Use

Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS) is providing ultrafiltration technology to the largest municipal desalination plant in Spain, operating with pressurised ultrafiltration as a pretreatment, to help meet the growing demand for potable water in the Canary Islands. The desalination plant, Maspalomas I, located in Gran Canaria, Spain and designed and furnished by Elmasa Tecnología del Agua S.A., is equipped with DOW IntegraPac Ultrafiltration IP-77 skids and DOW FIMTEC Reverse Osmosis membranes. The combined Dow ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis system effectively helps produce clean, potable water for the main touristic areas of the island.

Bordered by seawater on all sides and experiencing low levels of annual rainfall, freshwater is a scarce resource on the island of Gran Canaria. In order to meet the needs of local and tourist populations, the historically dry island has established desalination plants to support the production of potable water. With over 12 million visitors per year, the island’s local water demand has steadily risen, requiring Maspalomas I to extend its water processing capacity. After raising the water capacity, the plant’s seawater intake system did not have the capability to provide the required feedwater flow to accommodate for the plant’s expansion; therefore, a new open intake had to be constructed.

A two-stage pressurised filtration system was studied as conventional pretreatment for the new open intake. Conventional sand filters were considered; however, they did not meet footprint constraints, showed lower recovery and robustness for variable feeds, and resulted in higher civil works costs associated with construction and installation. With that said, the DOW IntegraPac Ultrafiltration solution, capable of producing 32,000 cubic meters per day (m3/d) was ultimately chosen for the plant, facilitating higher productivity and a lower lifecycle cost.

IntegraPac Ultrafiltration technology notably streamlines design and installation, resulting in lower skid costs, reduced engineering design costs, easy assembly, a smaller footprint, and shortened lead times. The system’s easy assembly and installation was a critical component for Maspalomas I in order to reduce local civil works costs. Dow ultrafiltration technology is based on a technically advanced PVDF hollow fiber with uniform pore size that maintains high performance under a wide range of feed water conditions. Furthermore, its unique outside-in fiber technology facilitates higher solids loading, higher flow area, and easy cleaning. 

“We are thrilled to provide the industry with a solution that effectively and efficiently helps produce high-quality potable water, particularly in this water stressed region of the world,” said Kai-Uwe Hoehn, global large project leader, Dow Water & Process Solutions. “Dow’s proven ultrafiltration technology not only helps boost plant productivity and lower costs, but provides another example of our commitment to solving global water quantity challenges.”