Who was at IDA 2009

Upen Bharwada, executive - business general manager, filters and membranes.
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Degremont
CEO Remi Lantier is hoping to build on his firm’s long relationship in the Middle East.

What are your reasons for optimism with regard to the regional desalination market?
Firstly, we are especially active in reverse osmosis (RO). Initially the thermal process was more active in the Gulf, but RO is relatively new in this segment.

Our experience at the Fujairah IWPP proved that we could operate in very difficult water, and overall, I’m proud to say that plants built by Degremont worldwide are now providing more than a million cubic metres of desalinated water a day.

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What’s your history in the region?
We have three major achievements here. Firstly, there’s Fujairah 1, which was the largest seawater RO plant on the planet when it was built. In addition, the Barka II plant is under commissioning, and that facility will eliminate or mitigate certain environmental elements in terms of discharge.

Lastly there’s the Al Dur IWPP, which is the biggest seawater RO plant in the Gulf. It’s a challenge for Degremont, but we’re very much looking forward to meeting the needs of the Bahraini community.

What challenges does the desalination industry face?
You have to be able to match technologies of a very different nature. If we start from the beginning of the treatment chain, pre-treatment is crucial and there are a number of different processes, including dual-media filters, membranes, dissolved air flotation systems for all types of water.

We’ve also mastered the RO process, so we can adapt the best products of several large suppliers of RO membranes to suit client needs, and last but not least, the energy recovery products are hugely important.

Even if here the cost of energy is not as high as other parts of the world, it’s incumbent on the client to have a minimal carbon emission footprint. Therefore, it’s clear that energy consumption should be as low as possible.

How important is sustainability to your company?
It’s absolutely central to us. We want to bring to the client exactly what they want in terms of processes, guarantees and competitiveness, but we need to support the client on the sustainable side as well. Why?

Because our clients are communities – ministers, states, municipalities, and so – all of which have a responsibility towards their citizens. We can also provide a long-term guarantees for these processes as we are also an operator, not just a builder, of these systems.

Even if the client doesn’t want us to operate the system we build, the fact that we carry out operating work all over the world is proof of our experience.