Earlier this month the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), owned by the government of Egypt, signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean membrane manufacturer SepraTek, to boost Egypt's production in the area of desalination, reports Egypt Today.
According to Abdel Moneim al-Tarras, chairman of the AOI, the memorandum covers several areas of cooperation: transfer of expertise, localizing technology, and senior management training. SepraTek will also train engineers and technicians. The purpose is to design, develop and put into operation membrane and pressure vessels production lines to be used in reverse osmosis desalination plants. Trained staff will manufacture, assemble and test products as per quality standards.
The AOI’s chairman said that the organisation intends to meet the needs of the Egyptian market, and also export to markets in the African continent, while encouraging local production.
The meeting between the Egyptian and South Korean parties included discussions concerning a future factory to manufacture desalination membranes, to be established as early as next year.
Egypt used to depend on the Nile for freshwater, but after Ethiopia finishes the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water, currently 55.5 billion cubic metres per year, may be limited. The Egyptian government has decided to invest in desalination as part of its water strategy. Last year, the Al Yusr desalination plant in Hurghada, on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, went into service, increasing the country’s total desalination capacity to 250,000 m3/d.
