Fresh water is the most valued resource in many arid and hot regions of the world, often key to the economic survival of nations. Near the sea, seawater desalination offers a costly but the optimal solution.

As much as the regions need desalted water they need stainless steel plates in today’s world, where stainless steel has become the universal and practically indispensable construction material of modern desalination plants. The hot and highly corrosive process environment of distillation, the most commonly used desalination method, is such a severe test to materials that only duplex stainless steels, thanks to their superior corrosion resistance, withstand the challenge. Duplex plates represent a significant portion of a plant investment, to the extent that small differences can make or mar a project or tip the scales in favor of one contractor and method rather than another.

Bahrain is fast depleting its groundwater, and the small island nation, located in the Persian Gulf, is blessed with no other freshwater reserves. As a solution, SIDEM of France, the world leader in multiple-effect distillation (MED), was awarded a contract in April 2006 to build a MED plant in conjunction with the Al Hidd power plant of Bahrain with a drinking water production capacity of 60 MIGD, making it the largest desalination plant in the world using MED.

The choice in favor of SIDEM’s MED solution was preceded by SIDEM selecting Outokumpu as the duplex flat-products and tube producer – the first time ever the two companies partner in desalination. The choice for Outokumpu came thanks to Outokumpu’s ability to tailor the right product package for SIDEM: cold rolled (CPP) plates and tubes with base material from the CCP and hot rolled plate processes. Outokumpu offered the most economical solution for SIDEM, reliable delivery schedules, and smooth after-sales service.