Once again, Protec Arisawa has been required for its quality and efficiency to produce and install 216 high-tech pressure vessels in a new desalination plant located in Sarlux, in Sardinia (Italy), designed to supply demineralised water for the industrial processes carried out in the neighbouring refinery of Sarroch.

The builder and operator of this new desalination facility is Acciona Agua, a Spanish water treatment front-runner company offering the design, construction and operation of drinking water treatment plants, desalination facilities, wastewater treatment plants and tertiary treatment plants for water reuse.

With more than 40 projects running in Italy only, on this occasion Acciona Agua wished to avail of Protec Arisawa’s excellence to overcome a new technological challenge in this Southern Italy region severely affected by recent and increasing drought.

This brand new desalination plant will provide each day 12,000 cubic meters of high-quality demineralised water to the Sarlux refinery, a facility operated by the major Italian energy group Saras SpA.

Located in Sarroch, near Cagliari –the most important and capital city of this Mediterranean island–, this industrial plant is one of the biggest and more complex of its type in Europe. This transformation industry refines crude oil into petroleum, deploying an operating capacity of 15 million tons per year (or 300,000 barrels per day), which accounts for approximately 15% of Italy’s total refining capacity.

A crucial facility in a region severely hit by drought

With great daily production capacity of demineralised water, the Sarlux plant is a crucial energetic facility for a dry island highly dependent on coastal infrastructures and shipping. This new plant comes just at the right moment, after a year which was the driest ever and the sixth warmest on record in Italy, according to Coldiretti’s recent studies (the major organisation representing Italian agricultural entrepreneurs).

Widespread drought throughout the summer led to water shortages, forest fires, and poor harvests. This situation has been critical for the past 100 years, especially in Sardinia, where many industrial and agricultural activities have been severely affected.

Sardinian energetic industry now has a clean, economic and ensured supply of desalted demineralised water, obtained through processes such as reverse osmosis –where the 216 Protec’s pressure vessels come into play–, ultrafiltration and electrodeionisation (a continuous process to obtain extremely pure water without using chemical elements).

Protec Arisawa thinks bigger

This new Sarroch desalination plant has a total footprint of approximately 1,260 square meters: it is the largest desalination plant for industrial use in the Mediterranean region. In order to accomplish an actual sustainable project minimising environmental impact and global expenses, the newest solutions and techniques have been applied through the whole construction process, from design to final manufacturing of each pressure vessel.

Protec’s expertise has been a crucial element in terms of cost reduction and installation times. Our commitment to innovation eventually improves overall operation efficiency by decreasing pressure losses and significantly optimising energy consumption, among other factors.

Over 40 years of experience confirm Protec Arisawa’s global leadership in the development and production of fibre-reinforced plastic pressure vessels for water purification treatments. In this project we have used the latest technologies, in order to produce our high quality reverse osmosis pressure vessels on a smaller, faster and more compact scale. Once again, we have proven to be the experts in composite manufacturing.

We are a forward-looking company always searching for new and innovating projects to prove our commitment to excellence and state-of-the-art technologies. We possess the specific techniques, resources and motivation to plunge into change. Our innovating solutions for most industrial and engineering sectors, but especially for the water treatment industry, are the best proof of our commitment all over the world.