BBN steel helps to solve the problem of drinking water in the Middle East

With strong corrosion resistance and super thermal conductivity, stainless steel and other specific steel products have become the "stars" in the large-scale desalination industry in the Middle East.

Desalination is a global industry - so far, there are more than 17000 commercial desalination plants in the world, providing water for 174 countries. In the extremely arid Middle East, fresh water is scarce, but the population is growing, and drinking water is very precious. For decades, the region has been relying on desalination technology to obtain valuable fresh water resources, and the desalination capacity accounts for more than 60% of the world. Among them, Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of desalinated seawater in the region. To some extent, the construction of desalination facilities has stimulated the demand for steel.

Modern desalination plants are usually divided into two types, one is thermal distillation, the other is reverse osmosis. At present, duplex stainless steels containing molybdenum, such as 2205 and 2304 stainless steel, are commonly used in desalination plants using thermal distillation process. In addition to its strong corrosion resistance, duplex stainless steel also has a high mechanical strength, which means that it needs less steel for construction, thus reducing the total density and weight of evaporator in desalination plant by 30%, thus improving the economy efficiency.

The seawater desalination plants using reverse osmosis process can also effectively prevent corrosion by using stainless steel containing 6% molybdenum and super duplex stainless steel. For example, the Ashkelon desalination plant in Israel uses 2507 grade stainless steel.

BBN steel has been supplying pipeline steel, pressure vessel and boiler steel, carbon steel, LPG steel, corten steel, armor steel and so on steel materials to the Middle East for decades. In recent years, the demands for stainless steel from the Middle East is also increasing.