Toray Industries announced that it has supplied reverse osmosis (RO) membranes to the Shuaibah 3 IWP seawater desalination plant in Saudi Arabia through Dammam-based subsidiary Toray Membrane Middle East.

The plant’s daily potable water production capacity is 600,000 cubic meters. This facility provides stable supplies of drinking water to Mecca, Jeddah, Taif, and Bahah, where demand for this vital resource has risen owing to population and inbound tourism growth.

The Shuaibah 3 IWP project has converted a conventional seawater desalination facility consuming a lot of energy and producing significant carbon dioxide emissions through regular evaporation (see note 1) into an eco-friendly setup employing advanced RO membrane technology. A solar power system supplies the equivalent of 65 megawatts peak to the plant.

This project will cut annual emissions by around 45 million tons of carbon dioxide and reduce crude oil consumption by about 22 million barrels per year. It will thus be a key contributor to the Saudi Vision 2030 program’s sustainable development and decarbonization goals.

Toray develops and manufactures everything from RO and ultrafiltration membranes to membrane bioreactor modules.