The ITC has developed a concept for a pilot desalination plant on an industrial scale unique in the world for its high energy efficiency

ITC, together with other companies from the Canary Islands and with the support of the ACIISI (DESAL+ project co-financed by the MAC Program 2014-2020), has designed a SWRO desalination plant with the lowest possible SEC in the market.

The main objective of DESALRO 2.0 Project is to validate the design of a pilot SWRO desalination plant (fully designed in the Canary Islands) for its development on an industrial scale (5,000 m³/day) with the lowest possible specific energy consumption (SEC below 2 kWh/m³), and to have a full-scale demonstration as an experimental platform with the availability of equipment for the acquisition and exploitation of high-performance desalination plant operation data.

The simulations carried out suggest that it would be possible to reach an energy consumption of 1.85 kWh/m³ with seawater from the Atlantic ocean and meeting the requirement of 1 mg/l of Boron in the permeate, compared to commercial developments that reach 2.35 kWh/m³.

In the field of capitalization of results, the aim of this initiative is:

• Transfer the results to the public entities of the Canary Islands with competence and promoters of desalination plants so that, through the technical information of the experimental plant, they can have technical information and measurements that allow them to tender future high-efficiency desalination plants.
• Agree and license with companies with professional skills in the design and construction of desalination plants the exploitation of the results.

DESALRO 2.0 – Experimental platform for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination with high energy efficiency (July 2021 – June 2023) – is a project requested by the ITC to the Canary Islands Government through the ACIISI – Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment. It is financed as part of the EU response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Recovery Assistance Fund for Europe’s Cohesion and Territories (REACT-EU SO20.1.4 Support for investments contributing to an economy green), within the framework of the European Recovery Instrument “Next Generation” (Exp. Sd-2111).

This project is carried out within the framework of the DESAL+ LIVING LAB platform at the Seawater Desalination installation (EDAM) in the Southeast of Gran Canaria through an agreement between the ITC and the Association of Municipalities of the Southeast of Gran Canaria (MSE) signed in February 2022.

Image. Infographic of the SWRO rack designed under the criteria of maximum energy efficiency.