De.mem wins seawater desalination contract

Water and wastewater treatment company De.mem has won a $2.6 million contract to provide a seawater desalination plant for innovative fruit and vegetable grower Sundrop Farms.

The plant, which will utilise ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, will be manufactured at De.mem’s Brisbane plant.

Sundrop, a world leader in the use of solar concentrator electricity generation to power horticulture production, will use the membrane based water treatment plant to convert seawater into high quality treated water.

De.mem did not reveal where the treatment plant will be installed, however Sundrop operates a $200 million facility near Port Augusta in South Australia which uses sunlight to produce electricity for heating and to desalinate sea water to grow 17,000 tonnes of tomatoes a year for sale through Coles supermarkets.

Its 127 metre tall solar concentrator tower can produce up to 39MW of thermal energy and is seen as a model for intensive farming.

De.mem CEO Andreas Kroell said the contract followed the company’s success in 2019 in securing a $2.8 million contract to supply a saltwater desalination plant for use in the Great Barrier Reef region.

Kroell said: “With this project, De.mem further establishes itself as a supplier of decentralised seawater desalination systems for customers which have strict quality requirements.

“This is a substantial business opportunity for our company given that seawater desalination is considered one of the key growth segments within the water treatment industry.”

Picture: De.mem

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