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Santiago Magazine 2022: Austria finances a desalination plant in Boa Vista with 10m€ 

The Deputy Prime Minister, Olavo Correia, today announced a financing agreement with the Bank of Austria, of 10 million euros, to install a desalination plant from UNIHA Wasser Technologie on the island of Boa Vista. "On behalf of the Government, I signed with the Bank of Austria a financing agreement in the amount of 10 million euros for the purchase of a desalination company with a production capacity of 5,000 cubic meters per day to meet the need of the island of Boa Vista," announced Olavo Correia, who is also finance minister. The governor also explained that this production "aims to meet the demand of the island", to "ensure the dynamics of the tourism sector, as well as to meet the needs of the population". "This credit is concessional, the zero interest rate, which will help the Government to have more space to use the credit itself," he said. In the face of successive droughts in the archipelago, the Government has been seeking to diversify the sources of drinking water, including through drip irrigation in agriculture and desalination plants for human consumption. Already in 2021 it had been announced by the Government that the desalination plant of Palmarejo, in the city of Praia, the largest in the country, would increase production capacity by 5,000 cubic meters of water daily from March, an investment also financed by Austria by 5.5 million euros. According to an announcement made in February last year by the Cape Verdean Government, the assembly works of the new desalination plant of the Palmarejo plant, operated by the public company Electra, were underway, to "start injecting water into the network at the end of March". "Electra thus sees an increase in installed capacity by 33%, passing to an available total of 20,000 cubic meters of water per day", through the plant in the Cape Verdean capital, refers to the same information. In addition to some neighborhoods of Praia, the new unit, installed by the Austrians of UNIHA Wasser Technologie, would allow to strengthen the supply of drinking water, obtained from the seawater, to the municipalities of São Domingos and São Lourenço dos Órgãos. It is a public investment financed by Unicredit Bank Austria AG with 5.450 million euros, according to an agreement signed in February 2020 with the Government of Cape Verde, aiming "the design, production, delivery and installation of electromechanical equipment of the Palmarejo Desalination Plant". In Cape Verde, desalination has been used for more than 50 years and this investment comes at a time when the country recovers after four consecutive years of drought. In this scenario, the Government decreed, in January 2020, the water emergency situation, with limitations on water consumption, and approved a mitigation plan, which involves precisely strengthening the capacity to treat seawater.

 

E.l.b.w. 2018: How to Maximise the Recovery of Groundwater Treatment Plants

Due to the geogenic conditions, groundwater of many localities is turbid and it has increased concentrations of ammonium, iron, manganese and arsenic. In order to use this water as drinking water, it must be treated in suitable plants. This is also the case in the Velika-Plana / Smederevska Palanka (Morava Valley) region of Serbia, where a corresponding facility financed by the European Union for the production of 17,000m³/d drinking water was put up for tender. UNIHA in collaboration with the construction company PORR AG won the bidding process and successfully commissioned the plant and handed it over to the end customer in 2017. The scope of the contract included the planning, delivery and construction of the processing plant, as well as the integration into the existing infrastructure and the training and supervision of the operating staff. The main focus in the planning by UNIHA was the minimization of waste streams and a high partial load capacity due to the discrepancy between current water consumption and design capacity due to the long planning horizon. This setup led to a total plant yield of 99.5 %. 

 

AWW 2014: UNIHA Aids in Choosing the Appropriate Process

Desalination by Sea and Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO and BWRO) membrane technology is an established option for the development of new regional water supplies Reverse Osmosis (RO) is also a widely accepted technology for industrial water purification. Effective mineral and salt removal converts  previously unusable water to high-purity resources for industrial process uses. R0 technology is used to remove salt from salty water by using semi  permeable membrane. Pre—treatment is essential to protect the membranes against organic fouling, mineral scaling and chemical degradation, i.e. to minimize chemical cleaning and membrane replacement. Dependent on the raw water quality, conventional filtration or ultrafiltration (UF), dissolved air floatation (DAF), water softening or acidification and disinfection is applied. Other desalination technologies available include evaporation, membrane distillation, forward osmosis and electro dialysis. UNIHA can help to choose the appropriate process for all project specific circumstances. The companies R0 systems deliver high performance at the lowest life-cycle costs. UNIHA is an internationally recognized specialist in the field of water and waste water technology. The company provides a full line of membrane treatment chemicals to enhance membrane performance once equipment is operating at the clients site. The line features optimized train design for plant sizes up to 100,000m3/d latest low energy membrane technology on preassembled skids; integrated pump-membrane-energy recovery design; tailor-made pre-treatment; and Clean-In-Place and flushing equipment.

 

AWW 2015: Highly Polluted River Water Treated for Villages

UNIHA project provides safe drinking water to the population of five towns in the Eastern Region of Ghana  Osenase, Apedwa Asafo, Anyinam, Kibi and Kwabeng. It is of high priority to the Ghanaian Government and is supporting their policy of developing the country in social and economic aspects realizing, that on the development of the water supply infrastructure, both in rural, and urban areas, utmost attention has to be paid. The project supports the Ghana Water Board’s efforts that everyone should have the right to access safe and affordable drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities which are essential for healthy lives and a sustainable environment. UNIHA project comprises four tum-key water treatment plants and overhaul of one existing plant. The raw water for all plants is taken from nearby rivers and is conducted via pipe system to the plants. In addition to the production and delivery of the electro-mechanical equipment the engineering experts of the company are ultimately responsible for installation, commissioning, start up as well as of the operation and maintenance of all five plants. Remote locations suffering from water scarcity need special solutions for water treatment. Where there are no, or only small electric grids, new solutions are needed for power supply and flexible plant operation. The company provides small scale stand-alone desalination units with renewable energy production (wind, sun, and biomass) and storage as well as waste energy use.

 

AWW 2016: UNIHA Water for El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula

El Arish is the largest city with over 100,000 inhabitants lying on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai Peninsula. For many years there has been interest in expanding the existing seawater desalination facility to provide a reliable supply of water for this area. UNIHA uses the technology of reverse osmosis for the seawater desalination plant. The plant consists of the following components which are raw water storage tank, feed water pumps, media filtration plant, chemical dosing station to feed SBS and antiscalant, cartridge filter with filtration degree of 5pm, high customer's specific requirements. The main accessory of the plant is washing and flushing station for automatic flushing alter each shut-down and manual washing with the necessary chemical circulating pump, cartridge filter and the related piping. A major restraint on the provision of access to safe drinking water and delivering projects is lack of funding. UNIHA has played a key role in developing a comprehensive and inclusive financing capability that has resulted in the delivery of many projects. The Austrian government provides official financing in support of national exporters through their Export Credit Agency (ECA), and they therefore tend to be limited to the financing of equipment.

 

AWW 2017: UNIHA Optimizes Water Treatment Plants

The return of investment and the saving of resources are crucial for every industrial water treatment project. UNIHA tailors the optimum treatment plant based on the specific life-cycle requirements. This includes the assessment of reuse and energy saving potential. UNIHA serves all industries such as food, oil & gas, petrochemical, steel, mining, cement, pulp & paper. UNIHA understands the importance of ensuring the quantity and the quality of water resources while at the same time controlling the environmental impact of industrial activities. In partnership with the client, UNIHA develops a business strategy to optimize water and wastewater treatment facilities. A complete water and waste treatment for steel Industrial has been successfully finalized. Water softening units by cation exchange resin (7.200 m3/d) provide soft water as make-up of cooling systems and feed water to RO plant. Reverse osmosis units (1.130 m3/d) provide DM water for closed cooling systems. lt also features scale and oil removal (8.000 m3/cl) for CCM, cooling towers (induced draft 2.500 m3/h plus forced draft 2.300 m3/h), and closed cooling systems with plate heat exchangers, 754 m2 (40 Mkcal/h). The accessories are all chemical dosing stations, sand and carbon filter. circulating pumps, piping and cabling and emergency tanks: firefighting system, central and local power distribution and control system, service, irrigation and drinking water treatment and supply.

 

ecolinx 2009: No gas without water

UNIHA has delivered three seawater desalination systems for gas transportation plants on the Caspian Sea, two directly and a third via MAN Germany.

UNIHA seawater desalination plants have capacities of up to 50,000 m3/d and produce water for industrial plants and drinking water for urban centers, in cooperation with MAN, UNIHA has completed a large industrial project in Turkmenistan involving a turnkey reverse osmosis plant that generates process and drinking water for a compressor station, which converts oil-accompanying gas into high-quality export gas. The latest technology guarantees both cost-efficient and environment-friendly operation, qualified personnel from Austria having provided support during start-up and with regard to operational management.

Reverse osmosis technology from UNIHA

Water from the Caspian Sea contains a high percentage of dissolved salts and the total volume of solvable material content adds up to approximately 14,000 mg/l, Following the successful removal of bacterial impurities and suspended material, the salt water can be desalinated using UNIHA’s reverse osmosis technology.

 

Export Today 2012: Healthy water for everybody

UNIHA has established its reputation in the field of Water treatment technology as a supplier of completely integrated solutions and innovative technologies designed to help industry and communities conserve, protect and manage water resources. UNIHA supplies tailor-made systems designed strictly according to the requirements oi the customers from individual components to turn-key systems. UNIHA tries to meet individual wishes arid the requirements of every customer. From design through to production and assembly as well as start-up of the unit at the customer’s plant, we aim to please each individual customer. The UNIHA product range extends; from the large reverse osmosis plants (50.000 m3/d) tor sea and brackish water to small containerized units as well as water treatment for potable (till 5m3/sec) and ultrapure industrial water and waste water for municipal and industrial customers of different sizes. Many years of experience in the field at water treatment technology makes UNIHA a reliable partner tor producing industrial and drinking water. The technologies used by UNIHA allow customers to meet the highest requirements of water quality.

High standard guaranteed

UNIHA uses only first-class and tested equipment of international manufacturers in order to ensure long operating lives and low service requirements. The effective analysis during the design phase allows UNIHA to select the most suitable process among different alternatives. In order to grant maximum security in operation and maintenance UNIHA also otters high standards in aftersales service. In all solutions UNIHA is keen on complying with each client's individual wishes and requirements. Due to the variety of its systems UNIHA enables the customers to select equipment that meets their operating and long-term costs. The reliable equipment in numerous configurations lets the customers choose the capability that meets their needs and budget. UNIHA has become a partner of well-known companies such as MOBILE, VOEST-Alpine, National Water Supply and Drainage Board in Sri Lanca, N.I.O.C. (National Iranian Oil Corporation), Electra in Cape Verde, Ottakringer Brewery, lran International Engineering Company (IRITEC). GhanaWater Company, MAN Ferrostal etc.

Major UNIHA projects include:

  • Sea water desalination by reverse osmosis for Hormozgan Steel Company in Persian Gulf with a capacity of 30,000 m3/d
  • Cooling water system for cement production 15,000 m3/d from seawater RO tor Arabian Cement Company in Saudi Arabia
  • River water treatment Systems for three cities Weligama. Hamoantota and Kataragama in Sri Lanka with a total capacity of 17500 m3/d
  • Three sea water desalination systems for the oil and gas industry in Turkmenistan
  • Sea water reverse osmosis for the city of Praia in Cape Verde with a capacity ot 10,000 m3/d (2 x 5,000 m3)
  • City water treatment for Mashad in Iran with a capacity of 6m3/sec