Sustainable water treatment in Abu Dhabi: sera Iberia supplies solutions for major project

The Challenge

During the construction of the Shuweihat S4RO large-scale SWRO plant in Abu Dhabi, GS Inima had to ensure a sustainable drinking water production capacity of over 318,000 m³ per day under extreme climatic conditions. Chemical conditioning of the process is critical to operations: errors in treatment, dosing, or polymer preparation would have led to membrane damage, process instability, and production downtime. At the same time, all systems had to be highly available, precisely controllable, and designed for high ambient temperatures. Standard solutions were out of the question.

The sera Solution

sera Tecnología Iberia handled the design, manufacturing, testing, and commissioning of the chemical and polyelectrolyte treatment systems. Custom-designed dosing systems with high-performance pumps were used, specifically engineered for high ambient temperatures, aggressive media, and continuous operation. The systems operate in multi-head configurations with flow rates of up to 4,500 l/h and enable stable, reproducible dosing across all load conditions. The complete electrical control system was developed and integrated by sera Iberia itself. Additionally, the PVDF piping systems were connected using IR welding technology for the first time to ensure permanently leak-tight, documented, and reliable connections.

Customer Benefits

• Stable and reliable operation of chemical conditioning in a large-scale SWRO plant
• Protection of membrane systems against improper conditioning and process disruptions
• High plant availability even under extreme climatic conditions
• Long-term, reliable, and low-maintenance media distribution

Summary

The Shuweihat project demonstrates that, in large-scale desalination plants, it is not the membrane but the process stability of the water chemistry that determines reliability and availability.