On Sunday, April 17, Singapore opened its fifth national desalination plant, about 5% larger than the plant's desalination plant.

Based on partnerships with existing power plants, the Jurong Island desalination plant can save up to 5,000 megawatt hours per year, equivalent to the annual electricity demand of nearly 1,000 homes.

The new facility, which has been operational since the beginning of this month, was inaugurated on Sunday by Vice President Heng Swee Keat and Minister of Sustainable Development and Environment Grace Fu.

The 3.7 hc plant can generate up to 30 million gallons of fresh water per day, equivalent to 55 Olympic swimming pools or up to 7% of Singapore's daily water needs.

Built on design, development, customization and operational design, the Jurong Island desalination plant will operate for 25 years through a partnership developed by Tuas Power and ST Engineering. The organization was selected as a nominee for the 2017 project.

A new desalination plant has been in operation since 2013 and on the same site as Tuas Power's Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex (TMUC), the plantation site.

Close to and integrated with the power plants of PUB and TMUC, the new desalination plant "may lead to a combination of capital" such as a combination of seawater inlets and outlets, structures, and the strength of the power plants in the factory. Association.

For example, the water that powers the Jurong Island desalination plant comes from seawater, which is electrically cooled. The hot sea water is sent to the desalination plant where the water process begins. This helps provide "slightly cleaner water" due to the presence of visible levels at the point where seawater enters the TMUC. Chairman and CEO of Holding Power, Jiang Hanbin, said in his opening remarks that the desalination plant on Jurong Island could reduce the cost of offshore pumping.

Another energy saving is that the new energy demand of the desalination plant is driven by the power generation plant, said Mr. Tan Chek Jiang of Tuas Power, plant manager of the desalination cog. of Jurong Island. This saves on network costs, thereby reducing plant operating costs.

+ New Solutions

But building full trust into existing buildings requires a "new" engineering solution, the developers said. This includes the development of modular systems in various areas of the desalination process and the prefabrication of equipment such as reverse osmosis units to simplify and speed up the assembly process.

“The design and construction of the Jurong Island desalination plant provides an opportunity for ST Engineering to leverage our expertise in large-scale construction for outdoor projects to provide environmental engineering solutions said Ng Sing Chan, President, Offshore, ST Engineering. .

One of the most energy efficient plants in Singapore, the Jurong Island Desalination Plant is also equipped with new water sealing equipment and membrane processes such as aerial flotation, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. It is highly automated and only needs a team of us to run all plant operations from the control room.

+ Improve the energy efficiency of desalination

Construction of the Jurong Island desalination plant began in 2018. The plant was first scheduled to open in 2020 but was delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 in the region and the lack of capital in the world. Boundary management and climate control also make it difficult to complete the plant.

The other four desalination plants in the country are SingSpring Desalination Plant, Tuas South Desalination Plant, Tuas Desalination Plant and Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant which started up respectively in 2005 , 2013, 2018 and 2020.

Desalination, which turns the oceans into drinking water, is one of Singapore's "big four taps". The other three sources are water from local wells, Johor Water Source and NEWater, which treats used water.

PUB chief Ng Joo Hee said in a statement: "Seawater extraction is the most expensive way to produce water, but it is the most expensive source of drinking water. important in Singapore because it needs energy. He added that the efficiency of the Jurong Island desalination plant "makes the energy demand for desalination much tastier" as desalination is unaffected by climate change.

Desalination is an energy-intensive process. Today, fresh water in Singapore is created by reverse osmosis, which forces seawater through membranes to remove salts and nutrients.

According to PUB, which studies ways to reduce energy demand, the technology uses about 3.5 kWh/m3 of energy to generate seawater.

During the opening meeting, Mr. Heng said that PUB would establish a joint proof desalination plant in Pasir Ris to test the technology which has been pledged for use in the complete desalination of the plant. He said the expansion and ease of use of this technology could reduce the energy needed to produce a cubic meter of brine from 3.5 kilowatt hours to less than 2 kilowatt hours by 2025.

Singapore will continue to invest in other areas of water research as part of the National Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 plan. The Vice President understands the development of new solutions to maximize water efficiency and reduce water consumption in industry.

The completion of the Jurong Island desalination plant is another milestone in Singapore's waterway, but Heng said water security in Singapore is not an easy task.

“We won't hear it in our daily life because we don't have food like in 1960 and drinking water is easily accessible from the tap. However, this did not happen by chance. It needs constant access to capital and focus on research and development,” he said. He added that each of the four country tabs has its own restrictions, including live weather and value.

“But I am convinced that even if we strengthen water, we will always find new ways to improve our water supply,” Heng said. "But to have real water security, we can't just focus on the equity product either."

Singapore currently consumes about 430 million gallons of water a day - enough to fill 782 Olympic pools - with the industrial sector accounting for more than half of that demand.

Authorities say water demand will nearly double by 2060.

In doing so, Mr Heng called on everyone to take part in saving water. For example, companies can do more to save water, but it can also help reduce their operating costs.

"I urge many companies to work with PUB to lower water protection limits," he said.