Dow awards EPC contract for Saudi water membrane facility to Fluor

Located in Jubail Industrial City II at the Sadara Chemical Co complex, the new facility will locally manufacture high-tech RO elements that purify water for drinking and industrial uses. Products will include Dow FILMTEC brackish water RO elements and seawater RO elements. The facility will supply the local Saudi Arabia market as well as the wider Middle East and Africa (MEA) region and markets, including Eastern Europe, India, China and South East Asia.

“This state-of-the-art facility will bring enhanced capabilities and capacity to Dow’s RO business in Saudi Arabia, and perfectly aligns to the Kingdom’s drive to offer increasingly diverse employment opportunities for Saudi nationals,” said Snehal Desai, global business director, Dow Water & Process Solutions. “This investment also complements our activities at the Dow KSA Research Centre at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where our research focuses specifically on RO solutions, in combination with ultra-filtration (UF) pre-treatment for seawater desalination.”

This is Dow’s first facility of its kind built outside the US. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.