Lantania, a key Spanish infrastructure, water and energy group, has been awarded the contract for the construction of a biosolids treatment complex in Saudi Arabia's futuristic city NEOM, located in the kingdom's northwest region.

 

The turnkey EPC contract, which comes as part of the Al-Badaa Water Recycling Plant upgrade, involves the design, construction and commissioning of a biosolids treatment plant, innovation centre and demonstration centre.

 

Lantania said it is being developed in a joint venture with the Saudi company Tawzea. 

 

Under this, Lantania will develop a facility that will use a Sequential Biological Reactor (SBR) for water treatment and solar drying to treat sludge from a nearby wastewater recycling plant.

 

The innovation centre will serve to test new wastewater and biosolids treatment and recovery technologies and will be equipped with four test benches, two laboratories and additional space to accommodate testing of other technologies as they are developed, said the Spanish group in a statement.

 

An architecturally-designed biosolids demonstration centre will house a visitor centre with exhibition space, reception and viewing areas, test zones, a greenhouse, laboratories and support facilities.

 

For Lantania, this will be its third project in Saudi Arabia. Last year, it had completed the construction of the Jubail 3 A desalination plant – one of the world’s largest reverse osmosis seawater desalination plants – which generates 600,000 cu m/day of drinking water to serve 1,600,000 residents of Eastern, Riyadh and Oassim provinces in the Kingdom. 

 

The Jubail plant draws seawater from the Arabian Gulf and uses less than 2.8 kWh of energy per cu m of water –  a new world record for energy efficiency and sustainability in desalination.

 

The Spanish group had also carried out the design, equipment supply and commissioning of a wastewater treatment plant for the Red Sea Project, a tourist city under development on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. 

 

The Red Sea facility will have the capacity to process up to 16,000 m3/day of wastewater through 46 hectares of artificial wetlands to guarantee supply of water for irrigation for the region.

 

The contract for the biosolids plant was inked in the presence of Gavin van Tonder, Managing Director of NEOM Water and Lantania’s Water Chief Executive Officer Pedro Almagro, at a key ceremony held in NEOM.

 

It was also attended by Lantania's Water Bid Director David Garzón, Project Director Ziad Germani, Middle East General Manager Michael Wafaa as well as Tawzea’s Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Halawani and Business Development Director Paulo Resede.-TradeArabia News Service