Sea Water Reverse Osmosis

Yara is the world’s largest producer of ammonia, nitrates and NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilisers and owns and operates the Technical Ammonium Nitrate (TAN) facility, adjacent to an existing liquid ammonia plant on the Burrup Peninsula. During commissioning of the TAN plant, Yara needed additional demineralised water for boiler feed water and hired a plant from MAK Water for short term, high quality water supply. MAK has a large hire fleet of reverse osmosis (RO) plants and was able to customise available plants to meet the urgent requirement. This was not a normal RO application as the feed was seawater and demineralised water was required.

The first stage of the Wheatstone LNG Project commenced with a temporary fly camp for construction workers.  MAK Water was engaged to supply modular Potable Water and Wastewater treatment plants with additional capacity able to handle the initial 500 man fly camp and the start of the main construction camp. MAK Water took responsibility for the turnkey supply and installation of a Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) to treat the sewage to a standard suitable for reuse in industrial applications.

In late 2012, the Australian Federal Government established a refugee processing centre on the remote pacific island of Nauru. The situation was critical, requiring swift delivery of humanitarian assistance. There was insufficient drinking water available, so a fresh drinking water supply was urgently required for the additional population.

As part of its Pluto project, Woodside needed to upgrade the port and associated infrastructure at the Burrup Materials Facility in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.  Water supply to the port facilities was insufficient for the construction contractor to complete civil and concrete works and therefore an alternative water supply was required. The project was only forecast to last 12 months, and following completion the water demand would reduce substantially.  Consequently a temporary solution was required.

The Government of Western Australia (WA) Housing Authority manages essential services at Aboriginal communities in the remote outback of WA via the Remote Area Essential Services Program (RAESP).  Local Regional Service Providers are engaged by Housing Authority for the delivery of essential services to these communities. MAK Water has now supplied eight of these communities with potable water treatment plants to improve the drinking water quality and reduce the impact of water born viruses in the community.  This project required a custom designed Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) plant to produce potable water using the available hypersaline ground water.