Posted on May 19, 2020
According to the International Desalination Association, several factors are driving the surge in desalination projects across the globe. In addition to the importance that is being placed on global water resource management, there is also a rising demand for clean water sources. At the same time, there are decreasing capital and operation costs of desalination and needs to replace older facilities with energy-efficient processes.
Desalination facilities can remove more than just salt from a water source. At many desalination facilities, harmful chemicals, metals, and/or bacteria that is in the water, from a variety of industrial processes or natural occurrences, are also being removed. Desalination facilities allow undrinkable and unsanitary water to be transformed into sanitary and suitable water sources.
Victaulic has a wide variety of couplings, fittings, and valves that support the development of new desalination facilities or upgrades to existing plants. Victaulic solutions can reduce project labor, schedule, and cost.
Development and Construction of a Desalination Facility (Binningup, Australia)
The Southern Seawater Authority Perth 2 Desalination Plant was designed to support the greater Perth Region of Western Australia. The plant was constructed to support the increase in water consumption that was created through population growth and reduced rainfall.
The Southern Sea Water Authority needed to find a solution that would reduce project schedule on the facility that was being built to support the mandate to produce water for Western Australia. Victaulic’s grooved piping products and solutions were able to reduce the project schedule, labor, and costs on the facility.
Victaulic’s Virtual Design and Construction Team presented to SSWA conversions of welded joints, flanged joints, and valve assemblies to Victaulic grooved piping solutions. The solutions included the StrengThin™ System for high pressure on thin-wall super duplex stainless steel piping.
The rapid field assembly of the StrengThin system and Victaulic high-pressure plug valves dramatically reduced field man-hours and assisted in creating schedule certainty. The total field installation time for a complete 16″ | DN400 valve assembly was reduced from 2½ days to 10 minutes.
The Southern Sea Water Authority Perth 2 Desalination Plant has the potential to deliver 30% of the state’s water supply from climate independent water sources.
HDPE Repairs for a Desalination Facility (Santa Barbara, California)
The Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility, in Santa Barbara, California, was in standby mode since 1996. In 2015, California was facing its fourth consecutive year of record-breaking drought. To respond to then-Governor Jerry Brown’s State of Emergency declaration, it was decided to reactivate the facility.
Through the help of Victaulic’s desalination products and solutions, the reactivation of Santa Barbara’s Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility was able to occur cost-effectively, ahead of schedule, and most importantly, safely. Victaulic’s products and solutions supported the efforts that were necessary to upgrade the desalination facility.
The Style 908 Coupling for Double Grooved HDPE pipe and a retrofitted Cut Groover (CG) 3500 tool were used to repair a section of the 36” underwater intake line. The self-aligning characteristics of the Style 908 Coupling allowed for a single diver to complete the underwater repair of the intake line. The pipe was grooved successfully in 90 short minutes. The coupling was installed within 30 minutes, with a total installation time of two hours.
To ensure the Style 908 coupling could withstand 100 years of underwater service life, the coupling housings were coated with fusion bonded epoxy to help to eliminate the risk of corrosion. Additionally, 50-pound zinc anodes were affixed to the housing bodies to provide the necessary cathodic protection.
“In Santa Barbara, Victaulic’s grooved solutions solved the challenge of replacing the missing subsea pipe, that was 2,500 feet offshore and 50 feet underwater, in record time,” explains Victaulic’s Matthew Gallo. In his role as a Water Systems Specialist for Victaulic, Gallo played a significant role throughout the entire duration of the restoration project lifecycle. “Not only were Victaulic’s solutions able to overcome the challenge of aligning pipe ends in strong ocean conditions, but also provide the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility with a solution that could withstand 100 years of exposure to corrosive seawater.”
Today, the newly restored Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility has the capacity to provide 30% of Santa Barbara’s water demand. The intake line supports the desalination facility by drawing in seawater from 2,500 feet offshore.
The Future of Water Reuse
As this demand continues to increase, from industrial and population growth, and global changes, the advanced water treatment solutions that desalination provides are becoming more and more essential. Desalination offers a non-conventional, environmentally sound water supply solution that helps to meet the increased demand for clean water.
“Victaulic can provide impactful solutions to desalination facilities to support the creation of new facilities or upgrades to existing ones.” Gallo describes how Victaulic’s products and solutions for the desalination market can save owners, engineers, and contractors valuable time and money during the various stages of the project lifecycle. “Victaulic’s products and solutions have significant roles, from intake to distribution functions, at desalination facilities throughout the globe. Many of these facilities are providing accessible drinking water and supporting the agricultural industry to areas that are in desperate need of this support.”
To read more about Victaulic’s mechanical piping solutions for desalination facilities, click here, and for more information specific to how Victaulic supports the infrastructure market, click here.
