The SADDN Desalination Plant, situated in the Tocopilla region of northern Chile, is set to support the country’s national mining industry strategy to reduce water consumption from conventional inland sources by 60% by the year 2030. With a design capacity of 840 liters per second (roughly 73,000 m3/day) , this state-of-the-art desalination facility will play a pivotal role in achieving this ambitious goal.
The project, a collaborative effort between Marubeni and Transelec, encompasses the intake and outfall systems of the desalination plant, a 160-kilometer pipeline, and three pumping stations designed to transport desalinated water to an elevation of approximately 3,000 meters above sea level. This represents the initial phase of a larger desalination facility that is poised to attain a design capacity of 1,956 liters per second (equivalent to around 170,000 cubic meters per day) in the future.
IDE’s cutting-edge and forward-thinking design for the SADDN desalination plant places a strong emphasis on sustainability, social responsibility, and environmental integrity.
“We chose IDE to be our technology partner due to their expertise in this space and it was clear they could support Techint E&C and the project stakeholders with the common goal of reducing water consumption from traditional sources with their industry-leading technology”
Marco Matranga, Project Director, Techint E&C
- Capacity: 73,000 m3/day
- Water Source: Sea water
- Technology: RO
- Contract type: Engineering Procurement and Construction
- Location: Chile
- Customer: Techint E&C
- Owner: Aguas Horizonte SpA
- Usage: Industry (Mines)
- Commissioning date: 2025 exp.
Highlights
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Size & Durability
Current design capacity of 840 liters per second will more than double to 1,956 liters per second in the future.
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Optimized Reliability
The plant is engineered for maximum operational reliability, featuring redundant systems to ensure consistently high availability and minimize downtime.
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Prefabricated Modular Design
– The plant leverages IDE’s MPD (Modular Prefabricated Design) approach which reduces on-site labor, speeds up installation, and enhances safety.
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Cutting Edge Design
Robust pretreatment phase and innovative flexible SWRO design, resulting in higher efficiency and reduced energy and chemical consumption.