BEIJING, China - China now has 131 seawater desalination plants operating with the majority of the produced water being used to quench the country’s thirsty industries.
According to the report from the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), 66.6 percent of desalinated water is used for industrial purposes and the remainder for residential use.
One example is the multi-effect distillation (MED) thermal desalination plant operating at power company SDIC’s site in Tianjin. The project was delivered by IDE Technologies under an engineering, procurement and construction basis.
Qu Tanzhou, head of science and technology at SOA, was quoted by Zinhuanet as saying: “China will speed up the legislation on seawater utilization, expand the use of seawater and address public concerns over drinking desalination seawater.”
The cost of desalinated water ranges from CNY5 to CNY8 ($0.74 to $1.18) per cubic metre.
Aside from desalination, it’s the urgent need for wastewater treatment in rural China that is attracting the attention of the wider industry.
A joint venture between Emefcy and RWL Water – Fluence – officially launched this week and said this market alone is worth $15 billion over the next five years (read story).
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