GE Adds Production, Storage with Center in Dammam

• Jul 07, 2009

GE Energy is building on its commitment to provide water solutions to Saudi Arabia with the recent opening of a near-$10 million GE Saudi Water & Process Technology Center in Dammam.

According to a June 23 press release, the center incorporates a blending plant for water treatment chemicals and offers advanced water, water reuse, wastewater, and process solutions to local and regional customers. It is the second water facility in the Gulf, following a recently opened manufacturing facility and office complex in Dubai, UAE. The new center is a joint venture between GE and Al Tamimi Group, a leading Saudi Arabian engineering and construction firm with which the U.S. company has had a relationship since 1957.

The 7,500 m² facility will add more than 10,000 tons of new chemical production capability and an additional 1,150 m² of chemical and equipment storage. It will initially blend a number of chemical products used in many industries, including power, refinery, petrochemical, mining, and manufacturing. The facility also will serve the municipal water and wastewater sector.

The center will provide jobs and training for Saudi nationals, who comprise about 50 percent of the contractors, plant operators, and commercial leaders associated with it.

GE has supplied more than 400 turbines for projects across Saudi Arabia. Notable recent projects include Marafiq, the world’s largest independent water and power project with the capacity to produce more than 2.7 GW of power and 800,000 m³/day of desalinated water; Saudi Electricity Company’s (SEC) PP10 and PP9, the largest combined-cycle facility in the Middle East with an output of more than two GW; and SEC’s PP8 project in Riyadh, which featured the shipment of GE’s 1,000th advanced F-technology gas turbine.

The company’s water-management portfolio in Saudi Arabia and the region encompasses desalination; municipal, utility and industrial wastewater treatment; process chemicals and separation; product water; and products for residential water applications. Key projects include:

• GE and Al Tamimi “GET Water” Partnership—The company is providing a fleet of mobile water treatment systems to Al Tamimi Group for the rapid deployment of onsite treatment systems for both sea water and brackish water treatment, water reuse, and water filtration with emergency response time of as little as 72 hours.
• GE Water is a partner in ConocoPhillips Water Sustainability Center (WSC) in Qatar—ConocoPhillips and and the company will work to develop more efficient and cost-effective treatment technologies at the WSC. The WSC will research and develop water solutions primarily for the petroleum and petrochemical sectors and also will focus on municipal and agricultural solutions.
• Water Reuse at International Medical Center in Jeddah—The company supplied the 300-bed facility with an advanced membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment system to treat and recycle 250 m³/day of wastewater, reducing freshwater usage.