With more than 50,000 km, second longest coastline in the world, of coastline Indonesia is surrounded by salt water, and yet it spends tens of millions of dollars every year on imports of salt. Most salt production in Indonesia is low-tech, involving the evaporation of seawater in coastal ponds during the dry season.
Solving the Problem
Hyrec developed Osmotically Assisted Reverse Osmosis (OARO), a proprietary, membrane-based purification and concentration technology for salt production, brine concentration, water desalination, and industrial wastewater treatment. OARO is cost-effective and does not require special climatic conditions, expensive mining, packaging or storage.
According to that process, seawater goes through a purification process where calcium, magnesium and other impurities are removed prior to the concentration process. Purified brine then goes through the Hyrec system where brine concentrated up to the saturation point. Saturated brine then enters the crystallizer where water evaporated, and salt crystals grow. The raw salt may be further processed, including washing, drying, sifting and grading, if necessary and depending upon the requirements.
Hyrec completed its basic R&D and proved its OARO concept with a near-commercial size demo plant in February 2018. The pilot is now operational in SWCC site in Umlujj/KSA producing 6 tons of salt and 220 m3 of desalinated water per day.
Hyrec is planning to fully commercialize its technology in 2019, with industrial-scale projects with partners from the USA, Indonesia, Kuwait, Japan, India, and Germany. "We are planning to be in a fully commercial stage by the end of 2019," says Mendi.