Shuwaikh Seawater Reverse Osmosis Plant
Seawater RO, 30 MIGD (136,000 m3/day) of seawater reverse osmosis, Kuwait's first large membrane plant; on the site of the Shuwaikh distillation station (20.5 MIGD) in Kuwait.
Operational
The record
- Country
- Kuwait
- Location
- Kuwait City
- Coordinates
- 29.351, 47.940
- Technology
- Seawater RO
- Capacity
- 30 MIGD (136,000 m3/day) of seawater reverse osmosis, Kuwait's first large membrane plant; on the site of the Shuwaikh distillation station (20.5 MIGD)
- Capital cost
- US$320 m (KWD 85.3 m) contract as Arabian Business gives it, for design, construction and equipment; includes three years of operation, not priced separately
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy
- Contractor
- Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction (design, build and three years of operation)
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- Government of Kuwait (Ministry of Electricity and Water)
- Award or start year
- 2008
- Commissioned
- 2010
Record last checked 2026-10-16.
History
- 1982
Shuwaikh desalination station recorded as commissioned
- 2008-03
Ministry of Electricity and Water signs Doosan to design, build and operate the seawater reverse osmosis plant at Shuwaikh Port for US$320 million, start-up scheduled for August 2010
- 2010
Plant built by Doosan
Sources
13 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- Energy Recovery Inc press release filed with the SEC, Shuwaikh 36 MGD desalination plant awarded to Doosan (2008). ir.energyrecovery.com.
- 136,000 m3/day (36 million US gallons a day), MEW the client, Doosan on an EPC basis, completion scheduled September 2010, described as Kuwait's first large seawater reverse osmosis plant.
- Alfadhli and Alhashemi, Environmental Impact of Desalination Plant Saline Water on Kuwait Bay, Journal of Engineering Research and Application 9 (2), 2019. ijera.com.
- Table 1, citing MEW 2006, lists the installed distillation plants in MIGD and million m3/day.
- Frontiers in Environmental Science, A detailed perspective of water resource management in a dry and water scarce country: the case in Kuwait (2022). frontiersin.org.
- Table 2 gives eight coastal desalination plants with year, technology and capacity in m3/day.
- Frontiers dates the Shuwaikh site to 1982 and gives 220,000 m3/day for distillation and reverse osmosis combined, which matches the two figures added together.
- Oxford Business Group, Kuwait 2018 report, The government is working to improve water infrastructure and production capacity. oxfordbusinessgroup.com.
- Az Zour South and Shuwaikh RO plants at 30 MIGD each; two 60 MIGD RO plants at Doha.
- Arabian Business, Doosan in for $320mn Kuwait job, 29 March 2008. arabianbusiness.com.
- Deal worth US$320 million (KWD 85.3 million) for a reverse osmosis plant of 30 million gallons a day at Shuwaikh Port; startup scheduled for August 2010; Doosan to design, build and operate the plant for three years.
- WaterWorld, Desalination plant in Kuwait conquers red tide challenge, 13 November 2012. waterworld.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
The plant was built by Doosan in 2010 for the Ministry of Electricity and Water (a membrane supplier's case study gives start-up in 2011). The row now describes the reverse osmosis plant (editor's decision, Kuwait round); the distillation station is kept in the capacity and history.