Fast to market

zoom

Fast Water’s design leaves space for access to key components.

When speed counts, a turnkey desalination plant won't appear overnight, but a modular unit might.

Packed, but not tightly, into a standard-sized shipping container, Aqualyng's first Fast Water units arrived in the Gulf in March.

The first two units are destined for Iran's Kish Island, where they will provide the local power and water company with additional capacity, for irrigation and tourism use. Hospitality is just one of the sectors Nick Powell, president of Aqualyng Water Solutions, sees as a target market for the product.

"Kish currently has some medium size turnkey reverse osmosis (RO) plants that are not able to keep up with demand as the island's population grows," he said. "Fast Water offered a quick cost effective way of expanding capacity."

Powell describes the containerised RO units as ‘plug and play'. With some basic civil works prepared by the customer, once the units arrive on site they can be connected to a water intake system and powered up.

"The membranes and technology do the work and provide clean water at the back end, simple as that," said Powell. "Design is a big part of the product. There are lots of containers where everything is just stuffed in. One of the advantages we feel we have is the way things are laid out. You can access every key component easily and the layout of the product assists in how the unit can be operated maintained, which is good for longevity."

Short lead-times are an essential part of the product if it is to successfully be a temporary, or emergency solution and Aqualyng claim an availability time of between 8-10 weeks.

In producing its mobile water product Aqualyng essentially acts as an integrator, bringing together tried and tested components from well-known industry brands. It holds many of these components in stock to avoid frequently long lead times. It also deploys its own proprietary energy recovery technology, known as a recuperator, to improve the unit's energy efficiency.

"Price-wise we are at the upper end of the lower third of the sector," said Powell. "We believe we have a higher quality of product in terms of design and we make clients aware of all key component suppliers - Siemens PLC, Fedco pumps, Dow membranes. Tying ourselves to those suppliers adds credibility to what we're offering."

What stands out when you see the container is the level of access. The internal design leaves plenty of space for technicians to get to and work on essential equipment. This makes the regular up keep of the unit an easier proposition for customers, who purchase the units on a capital cost basis - a key point of difference when compared to Aqualyng's competition.

Currently the units are available in two capacity ranges, 500m3 per day and 1000m3 per day. The latter is actually in two containers. One is a pre-filtration unit using multi media filters and a typical design contains three of these units in a 40ft container. This then sits alongside another container with membranes pumps and control works.

The product was first conceptualised around eight months ago and Aqualyng has been bringing it to market over the last three months.

"Our preferred business model is capital sale, but we are prepared to lease them under the right circumstances," said Powell. "When you compare it to competing technologies, tankered water is more costly and more inconvenient and if you're looking at a more permanent installation, it could be four or five times the amount in terms of dollar value."

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM