New technology for desalination and water reuse launched in the Asia Pacific region

‘The Barrel’, as it is called, utilises reverse osmosis.

Veolia Water Technologies, a subsidiary of Veolia Group, and a leading specialist in water treatment, recently announced the Asia Pacific launch of ‘The Barrel’ which incorporates integrated plug-andplay reverse osmosis (RO) technology. The Barrel was showcased at CleanEnviro Summit Singapore 2022 and the OzWater 2022 trade exhibition in Brisbane, Australia. With increasing demand for fresh water and rising concerns over its scarcity in the region, the Barrel is expected to meet the challenges and expectations of the desalination market while producing fresh water complying with all water quality standards. It is also suitable for wastewater reuse and low pressure RO applications. The Barrel is expected to empower users with an economically viable and sustainable source of fresh water. It was selected as a key technology for the first experiment in Europe, which involves wastewater treatment for the supply of drinking water, through the Jourdain programme, in France’s Vendee region. The technology has also been in use at the Oman Sur desalination plant since 2019.

The Barrel

The Barrel is a multi RO element vessel that is designed to be a plugand-play system. The carbon steel pressure vessel is manufactured and tested off-site, and is delivered as a single unit, so installation onsite can be fast-tracked and project schedules shortened. In addition, the modular design of the Barrel makes it scalable, offering varying capacities from 400 m3/day to 50,000 m3/day per unit. It can also be used in place of existing RO membranes and nanofiltration skids, as a more economically viable, sustainable, and innovative alternative. Compact and suitable for outdoor installation, the Barrel offers a footprint reduction of up to 25% and does not require a controlled environment. The sustainable solution also provides a reduction in electrical consumption in the range of 0.05 kWh/m3 of fresh water produced. Beyond sustainability, the design of the Barrel also significantly reduces the number of high-pressure piping connections down to just two - the seawater inlet and the brine outlet. This design feature makes it safer for operators and minimises risks on-site during the maintenance and operation phases. Corrosion is less likely to occur as seawater leakage sources, such as those found on the multiple high-pressure connections of traditional RO skids, are reduced. The Barrel also has a built-in digitalisation system with smart connectors providing real-time status updates on each membrane’s condition. In fact, their performance can be monitored automatically and accessed remotely – helping operators to make better decisions on whether to shut down, rotate, or replace membranes.

Veolia Water Technologies

Veolia Water Technologies provides a complete range of services required to design, deliver, maintain, and upgrade water and wastewater treatment facilities and systems, for industrial clients and public authorities. The company’s extensive portfolio of technologies features everything from online diagnostic solutions to evaporation and crystallisation, energy-producing sludge treatment, desalination, laboratory-grade water, and mobile water services. By optimising both processes and monitoring, Veolia Water Technologies helps clients reduce their water footprint, while generating savings in energy and chemical consumption.