The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, located in
Naval Base
A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that usu ...
, south of
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Western Australia, turns
seawater
Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximat ...
from
Cockburn Sound
Cockburn Sound () is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about .
It ...
into nearly of drinking water per day, supplying the Perth metropolitan area.
The salt water
reverse-osmosis (SWRO) plant was the first of its kind in Australia, and became operational in 2006. It covers around in an industrial park near the suburb of
Kwinana Beach Kwinana may refer to:
* City of Kwinana, a local government area in Western Australia
* Electoral district of Kwinana, an electorate of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
* Kwinana Beach, Western Australia, a suburb in Western Australia
* ...
. Electricity for the plant is generated by the 80 MW
Emu Downs Wind Farm located in the state's Midwest region near
Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...
. The wind farm contributes 270 GWh/year into the general power grid, more than offsetting the 180 GWh/year requirement from the
desalination
Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...
plant.
The desalination plant, with 12 SWRO trains with a capacity of per day and six BWRO (brackish water) trains delivering a final product of per day, was expected to have one of the world's lowest specific energy consumption, due in part to the use of pressure exchanger
energy recovery
Energy recovery includes any technique or method of minimizing the input of energy to an overall system by the energy transfer, exchange of energy from one sub-system of the overall system with another. The energy can be in any form in either sub ...
devices supplied by Energy Recovery Inc. The devices are isobaric chamber types which recover energy in the brine stream and deliver it to water going to the membrane feed at a net transfer efficiency at up to 98%.
As a condition of its continued operation, the Perth plant has a comprehensive
environmental monitoring
Environmental monitoring is the processes and activities that are done to characterize and describe the state of the environment. It is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, and in many circumstances in which human activit ...
program, measuring the seawater intake and brine outfall. Excess water from the plant is stored in the dams situated in the
Darling Scarp.
In early 2008, the plant was shut down on two occasions due to reduced dissolved oxygen levels in
Cockburn Sound
Cockburn Sound () is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about .
It ...
.
Press release
, July 6, 2008
See also
*List of desalination plants in Australia
As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought State governments around Australia began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Many of these plants have included in th ...
* Reverse osmosis plant
* Seawater desalination in Australia
References
External links
More on the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant
{{subject bar , auto=y , portal1=Australia , portal2=Environment
Science and technology in Western Australia
Desalination plants in Australia
Water supply and sanitation in Western Australia
Buildings and structures in Perth, Western Australia
City of Kwinana