Toyobo’s HOLLOSEP RO membrane elements for seawater desalination were chosen for use in the world’s largest seawater desalination plants in Saudi Arabia. Also, to further expand seawater desalination business in the Middle East, Toyobo would like to announce the following measures have been made;

1) Toyobo has begun the production of HOLLOSEP elements in Saudi Arabia.
2) Toyobo has started joint research in this field with a university in Saudi Arabia.

Toyobo is enhancing its competitive advantages in the seawater desalination business in the Middle East.

Toyobo’s HOLLOSEP RO membrane elements have been selected for use at the Ras Al Khair Plant, which is located in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia on the Arabian Gulf. The Ras Al Khair Plant will be one of the largest seawater desalination plants in the world, with a capacity of 1,000,000m3 of freshwater per day. Of the total daily output of 1,000,000m3 of freshwater, 345,000m3 will be produced using the RO method and the remainder by multi-stage flush (MSF) method.

The owner of the plant is Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. (of Korea) was awarded as the EPC contractor. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in 2014.

Since other large projects following Ras Al Khair are expected to select using the HOLLOSEP membrane, Toyobo made investments to expand product capacity of its Iwakuni Membranes Plant (located in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture) by more than 30%.

RO membrane elements for seawater desalination are core components composed of hollow fibers that desalt seawater to freshwater. The modules, which consist of RO membrane elements in a pressure vessel, are used in seawater desalination plants. The elements make use of hollow fiber membranes made of cellulose triacetate, which has superior resistance to the chlorine sterilization chemicals that are used to prevent the growth of microorganisms. These elements have been used successfully in many plants all over the world.

Toyobo has established a joint venture RO membrane element manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, together with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Holding (ACWA) and ITOCHU Corporation (Itochu), and it has begun production of HOLLOSEP elements for seawater desalination.

The opening ceremony of the plant was held with the presence of His Excellency, Eng. Abdullah A. AL-Hussayen, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Water and Electricity, and Mr. Jun Yoshida, Consulate-General of Japan in Jeddah. The representatives of ACWA, Itochu and Toyobo, who included President Ryuzo Sakamoto, Director Kazuo Kurita, and a General Manager Nobuya Fujiwara, attended the ceremony.

Outline of the Joint Venture

Company name: Arabian Japanese Membrane Company, LLC (AJMC)
Date of establishment: August 2010
Paid-in capital: Approximately ¥200 million (Total investment of approximately ¥700 million)
Ownership: ACWA: 49%, Toyobo: 36.1%, and Itochu: 14.9%
Location: Head Office and plant: Rabigh (in Rabigh Plus Tech Park)
Marketing & Sales Office: Riyadh
Lines of business: Manufacturing and sale of RO membrane elements for seawater desalination

Toyobo positions this newly formed joint venture as a strategic base for the expansion of its business in the seawater desalination market in the Middle East, where further expansion is expected in the future. AJMC expects expanding sales of RO membrane elements for seawater desalination not only in Saudi Arabia, but also in the rest of the Middle East and the North Africa region. The joint venture is aiming for annual sales of ¥1.5 billion in 2012 and ¥4.0 billion in 2015.

Toyobo and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have reached agreement to conduct joint research with the goal of developing seawater desalination technology suited to the Middle Eastern region.

This agreement was signed on May 23 in Saudi Arabia. Toyobo research personnel will be dispatched to KAUST and proceed with joint research.