Seawater desalination plants (SWRO)

SWRO pushes pre-treated seawater through semi-permeable membranes at high pressure. Water molecules pass, while dissolved salts stay behind and leave in a separate concentrate line. The product water can then be remineralised and disinfected for drinking, utility or process use. AFG manufactures complete SWRO plants with high-pressure pumps and energy recovery.

The SWRO references on this site run from 360 m³/day for a hotel in Kuşadası to 6,000 m³/day for the Avşa Island plant upgrade, with hotel plants of 1,000 and 1,200 m³/day in between. Every new plant is sized to the site's demand, the seawater quality and any future expansion you plan.

Seawater carries sand, silt, organics and microorganisms that would foul the membranes. AFG plants typically combine self-cleaning filters, sand filtration, ultrafiltration and cartridge filtration ahead of the membranes, as in the hotel references on this site. The exact train is chosen from the seawater analysis and the intake design.

Most of the energy goes to the high-pressure pumps, so feed salinity, water temperature, recovery rate and membrane condition matter most. Energy recovery devices return pressure from the concentrate to the feed and cut consumption. Chemicals, cartridge changes and membrane replacement make up the rest. We size these items for your site in the quote.

The required daily capacity, what the water will be used for, a seawater analysis or at least the intake location, the space and power available, and how the concentrate will be discharged. With these we can propose the pre-treatment, the membrane design and the post-treatment. For a step-by-step overview, read how a desalination plant works.

Not usually. RO permeate is very low in minerals and slightly aggressive to pipes, so it is remineralised, for example over dolomite as in several AFG hotel plants, and then disinfected before it goes to supply. Post-treatment is designed to meet the drinking or utility water standard the project requires.