Tunisia set to trial EDR for desalination programme

Tunisia’s SONEDE has released an RFP for 10 brackish water desalination plants with a total capacity of 36,200m3/d in its southern region – one of which will be the first in the country to use electrodialysis reversal (EDR). The remainder will use reverse osmosis. A second phase will add 35,200m3/d across another 8 plants.

Speaking to GWI, Abderaouf Nouicer, head of desalination at SONEDE said: “We haven’t experimented with EDR before - this was an opportunity to do so. EDR lends itself well to the water's characteristics, which has a salinity of 2-3g/L. We'll be able to assess its performance and compare it with RO."

The plants will be split into 3 packages, and financed by a €25 million loan from KFW, with the remainder from SONEDE. Contracts are expected to be awarded during the second half of 2011 and the plants to come online by the end of 2013.