Dow makes new investment in Kingdom

The Dow Chemical Company has awarded Fluor Corporation the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its reverse osmosis (RO) manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia.
Located in Jubail Industrial City II at the Sadara Chemical Company complex, the facility will locally manufacture high-tech RO elements that purify water for drinking and industrial uses.
This is Dow’s first facility of its kind built outside the United States with expected date of completion by end of 2015. Over 100 jobs will be created at the facility which will manufacture a range of Dow RO products, including Dow FILMTECTM brackish water RO elements and seawater RO elements. The facility will supply the local Saudi Arabia market as well as the wider Middle East and Africa (MEA) region and markets with similar critical water needs, including Eastern Europe, India, China and Southeast Asia.
Saudi Arabia faces tremendous water scarcity and as a result, represents the largest seawater desalination markets in the world. The new Dow RO facility will not only bring local supply security of cutting edge technologies for water desalination but also a more cost-effective water treatment solution as desalination via reverse osmosis has proven to be less energy-intensive as compared to traditional thermal methods.
RO elements are used for demineralizing brackish water or desalinating seawater for a variety of sectors and industrial applications, including water treatment, power generation, food and beverage processing, municipal desalination and water reuse.
“This state-of-the-art facility will bring enhanced capabilities and capacity to Dow’s RO business in Saudi Arabia, and perfectly aligns to the Kingdom’s drive to offer increasingly diverse employment opportunities for Saudi nationals,” commented Snehal Desai, global business director, Dow Water & Process Solutions.
“This investment also complements our activities at the Dow KSA Research Centre in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where our research focuses specifically on RO solutions, in combination with ultra-filtration (UF) pre-treatment for seawater desalination,” Desai added.
“Dow has chosen Fluor as the EPC contractor for its reverse osmosis manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia,” stated Zuhair Allawi, president Dow Saudi Arabia.
“Fluor has demonstrated extensive knowledge and experience within this field and we are confident that the team will bring significant added value to the project. We look forward to working with Fluor as we bring this project to life,” Allawi said.