Company desalinates seawater with new technology, lowering cost to
                below US$1 per cu m, making it comparable to cost of water from PUB
                By DOMINIC NATHAN

                SINGAPORE'S first home-grown desalination plant is up and running,
                supplying drinking water to ships calling at port here.

                Designed and built by Singapore-incorporated AquaGen International Pte
                Ltd, the plant on Jurong Island supplies 500 cu m of potable water a day.

                This water is distilled from seawater by a unique space- and energy-saving
                process that promises to reduce the cost of water to well below US$1
                (S$1.66) per cu m, according to the company, making the cost comparable
                to water sold by the Public Utilities Board (PUB).

                Below the US$1 mark, the technology would be affordable for developing
                countries, according to the US-based International Desalination Association.

                Desalinated water from the AquaGen plant, which is built alongside the Pulau
                Seraya power plant, is now being sold to PSA Marine, a wholly-owned
                subsidiary of PSA Corporation, whose water-boats supply drinking water to
                ships in the anchorages within Singapore waters.

                A PSA Corporation spokesman said: "PSA Marine, together with AquaGen,
                conduct regular tests to ensure that the desalinated potable water complies
                with World Health Organisation drinking-water standards."

                According to PUB, water users can develop and operate desalination plants
                for their own use, as long as they comply with public-health requirements for
                potable water.

                Interest in desalination has picked up here, with a PUB tender already called
                for consultants to oversee the building and operation of a plant planned for
                2005. The plant is meant to produce 136,000 cu m (30 million gallons) a day.

                Singapore uses 1.2 million cu m of water a day. Close to half comes from
                water-catchment areas here. The rest comes from Johor under two
                agreements that expire in 2011 and 2061.

                Negotiations for a new water agreement with Malaysia have not been
                completed.

                In desalination, there are two main competing technologies: thermal distillation,
                as used by AquaGen, and reverse osmosis.

                AquaGen's multi-effect distillation technology is a new take on the
                conventional, multi-stage flash methods used in the Middle East.

                It uses much less energy and churns out fresh water more efficiently. Because
                its pipes are arranged in vertical towers or vessels, it takes up less space.

                With four years of R&D under its belt, AquaGen has set up a new company
                with Singapore Power and ST Marine to build a 5,000-cu-m-a-day pilot
                plant on Jurong Island.

                AquaGen president Gavin Liau said: "This will be the first in the world to use
                cheap and affordable materials for its vessel construction, erected vertically to
                use minimal land space."

                It is expected to start operating next year. Plans to scale up this plant design
                to produce 30 million to 60 million gallons a day are already at the design
                stage. It could be built by 2005, he added.

                "This mega-scale desalination plant would bring down the water production
                cost to well below the US$1-per-cu-m threshold, which should be the
                affordable water cost for all developing countries."

                AquaGen's full-scale plant is estimated to cost $400 million, compared with
                an estimated $900 million for a plant of the same capacity using the more
                widely accepted multi-stage flash technology.

                Adapted from The Straits Times, 3 Jan 2000