Desalinate seawater – preserve life
The source of life
According to the World Health Organization, even though two-thirds of the world’s surface is covered with water, around 11 percent of the world’s population has no reliable access to drinking water. And industrial and drinking water is growing scarcer. Because groundwater is often not enough to cover needs, seawater desalination is playing an increasingly important role, especially in countries with major water shortages or polluted rivers. As a consequence, seawater desalination is now carried-out in over 150 countries. Our software, automation technology and end-to-end service help you design, operate and maintain your desalination plant and to keep it efficient in the long term.
A clean solution
The most important aspects of seawater desalination are to improve security of supply, reduce energy requirements and provide the best possible water treatment control. There is also the complex nature of the plants, which makes state-of-the-art control and monitoring systems indispensable. After all, the process not only consumes a great deal of energy but is also expensive.
Reducing energy consumption
Seawater desalination is an energy-intensive and therefore costly process. That’s why energy efficiency plays an extremely important role in ensuring economical plant operation. A key aspect here lies in drive technology. With perfectly matched components such as enclosures, bearings, active parts, ventilation, and cooling system, we can supply the right motor for every need. In this way, we ensure a high level of plant availability, security of supply thanks to high material quality – the result of innovative processing – and reduced energy consumption
Easy control and monitoring of complex desalination plants
Desalination plants are often unmanned and are managed remotely from a central control room. The main challenge therefore lies in the maintenance and modernization of PC-based control systems. The virtual control technology, in particular, offers clear advantages: the entire control system server infrastructure is consolidated in a computer center. We facilitate your entry into future-oriented technologies with our lifecycle service that covers everything you need for a virtualization solution – all from a single source.
Integrated plant engineering reduces the times needed for commissioning
Global competition, dynamic market requirements, eco-friendliness, and legislative regulations; plant engineering is facing increasing international competitive pressure – and that includes the water and wastewater industry! That’s why implementation times and project costs have to be reduced. Our integrated engineering ensures that plant design, the distributed control system and device configuration all work perfectly together. For you as the plant designer and operator, that means maximum data consistency from design to automation and operation.
Products, solutions, and services throughout the entire plant lifecycle
The parallelization and automation of work processes, their simplification and standardization, as well as digitalization and electrification are all important factors for improving the efficiency of your plant. Competing in the international market requires constant innovative strength and efficiency as well as increased productivity and quality – throughout the entire plant lifecycle. With our customized solutions, products, and services we help you achieve integrated plant management.
Efficiency throughout the plant lifecycle starts with planning
It is vital to be working as cost-effectively as possible right from the planning phase. Innovative software and tools are important factors in speeding up the planning phase. Make optimal use of this potential, because saving time means saving money.
Reducing configuration time and effort
Operators of desalination plants are constantly facing new challenges due to growing time and cost pressures.
The planning and further development of an innovative, high-quality system landscape requires system-specific, easy-to-use planning tools. With ProTime PCS 7, you can convert your individual requirements and existing quantity structure into SIMATIC PCS 7 plant configurations that can then be ordered. This not only enables you to improve the quality of your system design but also significantly reduces the time required.
Fault-free configuration of automation engineering
Errors in the selection of system components when automating a desalination plant can result in delays and even disposal problems at the time of commissioning. Using the TIA Selection Tool, you can ensure error-free configuration without expert knowledge. You not only save time but also money. The TIA Selection Tool is free. The desktop and cloud versions permit cross-team cooperation with maximum flexibility.
Designing the automation of a desalination plant
Uninterrupted operation, high water quality, and reduction of plant costs are only some of the challenges of the water industry. Automation plays a decisive role in resolving these issues. Our automation engineering allows you to respond quickly to changes in the supply network. It stands for user-friendliness, high system availability, investment protection, future-proof technology and reduced total cost of ownership.
Selection and planning drive engineering
The new infrastructure drive SINAMICS G120X is the perfect choice for pumping / ventilating in your desalination application. This drive covers all voltage ranges from 0.75 to 630 kW in nine sizes and works in all voltages and supply networks. Due to its robust construction with optional drip water protection and optionally 3C3 coated printed circuit boards the SINAMICS G120X can also be used under harsh conditions. It is very efficient and can be operated with all motors, the best are synchronous reluctance motors from SIEMENS.
Planning the electrification of a desalination plant
Our comprehensive range of power supply products permits a reliable, secure and efficient power supply with software and hardware products, systems and solutions for all voltage levels of your desalination plant.
Integrated Engineering: shortening the time from planning to operation
Competing in the international market today requires constant innovative strength and efficiency, faster commissioning – and uncompromising quality from the very start. The solution: Enjoy the benefits of digitalization as early as the engineering phase through our Integrated Engineering concept, based on consistent software tools.
Parallelization of work processes
Growing international competition is making it increasingly important for planners and operators desalination plants to increase productivity and quality. Severe time and cost pressures also make it necessary to parallelize work processes. This requires constant innovation and consistent data management. Life Cycle Engineering with our future-oriented COMOS software enables comprehensive management throughout your plant’s entire lifecycle – and thus the realization of your goals.
Optimizing seawater reverse osmosis plants
Seawater desalination is a very complex and energy-intensive process. By using the Advanced Process Control (APC) functions of SIMATIC PCS 7, you can increase your level of automation and reduce operating costs.
Integrated automation
Uninterrupted operation, high water quality and reduction of plant costs are just some of the challenges in operating a desalination plant. Automation plays a key role in resolving these issues. Our automation engineering allows you to respond quickly to changes in the supply network. It stands for user-friendliness, high system availability, investment protection, future-proof technology and reduced total cost of ownership.
Efficient drive technology
With perfectly matched components such as enclosure, bearings, active parts, ventilation, and cooling system, we offer you the right motor and converter for every need. Thus, we ensure high plant availability, security of supply with high material quality through innovative processing and low energy consumption.
Optimal plant operation for high availability
Optimal plant operation is primarily based on high availability with minimal costs. Among other things, it requires data transparency and reliable equipment. Innovative software and proven products are valuable aids to profitable plant operation.
Certified energy management
Company-wide energy management across sites can be a genuine challenge. With SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO, you can quickly display energy costs per generator set, machine, plant area, day, week, month, or year. When integrated into the automation system, it lets you link energy and production data as well as plant information. Instead of having to analyze complex raw values, SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO combines the values and makes them accessible to you as meaningful indicators. TÜV certification of the solution makes it easier for you to comply with legal requirements in accordance with ISO 50001 and enables the energy- and cost- efficient operation of your desalination plants.
Protect plants against unauthorized access
With the growth of digitalization, comprehensive security in automation becomes increasingly important. Our Industrial Security concept includes all security levels and provides plant and network security as well as ensuring system integrity, thus providing comprehensive protection for the productivity of your desalination plant.
Ideal plant operation with precise process instrumentation and process analytics
To meet the continuously increasing demands on the safety and quality of water supply and wastewater disposal, all relevant process information has to be recorded precisely and made available in the distributed control system. Our process instrumentation and analytics portfolio has the right solution for any measurement task involving desalination plants, whether it is making processes more efficient or complying with regulatory guidelines and quality standards. All measurements can be transmitted wirelessly. Use our interactive process charts for desalination plants to find the right solution for your application.
Prevent faults and breakdowns in extreme ambient conditions
Mechanical loads, chemical and biological substances, condensation and temperature fluctuations reduce your desalination plant’s durability. SIPLUS extreme technology protects your products against the resulting corrosion, dendrite and whisker formation and other harmful deposits, thereby preventing faults and downtimes. The expansion of the temperature range to -40°C and +70°C allows SIPLUS extreme products to be used even where the standard range is no longer sufficient.
Safe integration of distributed plants
Because desalination plants are often set up decentrally with many distributed external stations, centralized control is important. With telecontrol, you can control your plant remotely and easily communicate with the individual parts of the plant that are separated in terms of space or locality. Using the telecontrol units you can, for example, detect leaks, monitor pumping and storage stations, and check tank levels.
Integrated automation
Uninterrupted operation, high water quality, and reduction of plant costs are just some of the challenges in the process industry. Automation plays a key role in resolving these issues. Our automation engineering allows you to respond quickly to changes in the supply network. It stands for user-friendliness, high system availability, investment protection, future-proof technology and reduced total cost of ownership.
Efficient drive technology
With perfectly matched components such as enclosure, bearings, active parts, ventilation and cooling system, we offer you the right motor and converter for every need. We thus ensure high plant availability, security of supply with high material quality through innovative processing and low energy consumption.
Electrification over all voltage levels
Our comprehensive range of power supply products permits a reliable, secure and efficient power supply with software and hardware products, systems and solutions throughout a desalination plant’s operating phase.
Comprehensive water management system
Optimized operations management requires that plants and infrastructures in the water industry be intelligently controlled and managed. Our smart solution is the SIWA water management system – a modular solution for pipelines.
Optimal maintenance for minimum downtime
Minimum downtime and optimal use of staff and resources are key to sustainable success. With technology-based services throughout the entire plant lifecycle, in-depth knowledge of technologies and industry expertise, we create the conditions for greater productivity, flexibility, and efficiency – reliably, globally and around the clock. Thus, we enable you to perform predictive maintenance for optimal operation and minimum downtime.
Ensure high availability throughout the entire lifecycle
Both profitability and high plant availability are key for operators of desalination plants. The value of their investment must be maintained by constantly adapting to new requirements, for example by increasing efficiency. To safeguard plant operation and ensure availability throughout the entire plant lifecycle, we offer a service program that supports and supplements the operator’s maintenance processes, optimizes the efficiency of plant components and guarantees plant safety.
Reliable plant monitoring
High availability of the automation concept is extremely important for properly safeguarding the supply. A SIMATIC System Audit provides transparency of the current status and serviceability of your SIMATIC automation system.
It thus provides a crucial basis for ensuring intelligent design and service strategies as well as efficient implementation of system upgrades and updates.
Introduce a preventive maintenance concept
Failures in a desalination plant can lead to serious supply problems. With our comprehensive range of preventive services, we help you avoid unplanned downtime by planning and implementing suitable maintenance measures in advance. Preventive maintenance also helps you make the most of hidden potential through continuous optimization, thus improving your long term efficiency.
