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AN ITALIAN SYSTEM TO QUENCH ABU DHABI'S THIRST
Rome - (Ign) - Full of natural resources, but with little drinking water. Many countries in the Arabian gulf have for centuries had to put up with this contradiction, which forces them to use technology to quench the thirst of their citizens. Among these the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a small state with a population of around 3½ million inhabitants, hold a place of enormous importance, both because of its geographical position and its oil.
In the country, which consumes almost a billion cubic metres of water per year, the water emergency is extreme. There are no rivers and lakes of significant size, and rainfall is on average around 50 millimetres per year (in Italy it is around 1000). Fresh water taken from wells only satisfies 13% of the requirements, while almost double this (23%) is obtained from desalinisation plants. One of the main ones is the Tit plant in Al Tawelaah - near the capital Abu Dhabi - which started work in 1995 and was built by the Italian company SAE Sadelmi.
The site at Al Tawelaah provides for the production both of electrical energy and drinking water. In countries with great energy resources - such as oil and natural gas - multiflash distillation is the cheapest technology, also in consideration of the very high salinity of the waters in the Persian Gulf. And the Tit implements precisely this ype of technology, which provides purification through a series of stages using the energy residues from other processes. This is a cost-effective system, which permits the maximum use of resources without repercussions for the environment. Six multiflash units installed in Al Tawelaah - with an overall capacity of over 14,000 cubic metres per hour - were provided by Fisia Italimpianti, and are the largest currently in function in the world. The residual heat from the turbogas units which produce electricity is exploited to obtain the thermal energy necessary to evaporate seawater. In 2000 the system in Al Tawelaah was enlarged by Sadelmi with the addition of another two gas turbines for electrical energy and three more multiflash distillers. In this way the purification capacity reached levels of over 17,000 cubic metres per hour.
Sadelmi is a company with 60 years of tradition. It has been working since 1947 in the engineering and construction of plants for the production of energy. Hydroelectric, gas, steam and combined cycle power stations designed and built by Sadelmi are found in almost all the countries of the world. In the last 10 years it has built electrical power stations for a total of over 60 turbines and more than 8,000 MW of electrical power. Among these, there are Alba and Al Hidd in Bahrain, Acajutla in Salvador, Izmit in Turkey, Jebel Ali in Dubai, Rabigh in Saudi Arabia, Ras Abu Fontas in Qatar, Shajibazar in Bangladesh and Zarqa in Jordan. In 1989 Sadelmi became part of the Abb group, which changed its name to Abb Sae Sadelmi, while 10 years later a joint-venture with the Alstom group was set up, bringing together all the engineering activities of the respective sectors. This led to the birth of Abb Alstom Power, into which Abb Sadelmi merged, and which two years later changed its company name to Alstom Power Italia, after Alstom had bought out Abb's share in the joint venture. The latest reorganisation was three years ago: all Alstom's engineering activities were transferred to Sadelmi, which today is once more operating under its brand in engineering and contracting and offers customers all the stages involved in the construction of plants: from feasibility studies, process selection and project financing to engineering, construction, commissioning/start-up, and maintenance.
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