New seawater desalination plant in Libya supplies drinking water for 100,000 people

1. The Challenge

The new seawater desalination plant in Tobruk is designed to produce over 13,000 m³ of drinking water daily, thereby supplying approximately 100,000 people. In thermal desalination processes (MED-TVC), foaming, deposits, and scaling quickly lead to efficiency losses, malfunctions, or unplanned downtime. Without controlled chemical conditioning, heat exchangers, piping, and process stages would be permanently at risk. The goal was stable, low-maintenance continuous operation under demanding conditions.

2. The sera Solution

In the VA TECH WABAG project, three dosing systems from sera were deployed for central process conditioning. They dose defoamer solution to prevent foaming, SBS solution (19%), and antiscalant to prevent lime and other deposits. The systems were implemented by sera Tecnología Iberia S.L. in collaboration with the sera headquarters. The dosing systems are designed for use in seawater desalination plants and enable continuous, reproducible, and reliable chemical dosing. This ensures that the critical process areas of the MED-TVC plant are permanently protected.

3. Customer Benefits

• Stable and trouble-free operation of the desalination plant
• Protection of plant components against foaming and deposits
• Consistent drinking water quality during continuous operation
• Reduced maintenance requirements and increased plant availability

4. Summary

The Tobruk project demonstrates that seawater desalination cannot be operated sustainably without reliable process dosing—it is a key component for system availability and security of supply.