In short: a seawater intake must take in millions of cubic metres a day and keep out jellyfish, seaweed, sand and fish, without clogging or harming marine life. A passive wedge-wire screen does it with no moving parts. BTGC supplies Elgin Separation Solutions intake screens, built for the high salinity and bio-fouling of the Gulf and Red Sea.

Every desalination plant and every coastal power station in the Kingdom begins with an intake. Debris that passes the intake blocks pumps, fouls condensers and shuts down trains. Traditional travelling band screens catch it, but they have motors, chains and sprays to maintain, and they collect marine life that must be handled and returned.

How a passive screen works

A passive screen is a cylinder of wedge-wire with precisely sized slots, mounted on the intake pipe below the water. Water enters through the slots at a low velocity, typically below 0.15 m/s. At that speed fish and swimming organisms can move away, and debris is not pulled onto the screen. There is no motor and no moving part; periodic air-burst cleaning clears any build-up.

Coanda screens for debris-heavy flows

Where the water carries heavy debris, a Coanda screen uses the way water clings to a curved surface. The flow runs over a curved, tilted wedge-wire panel; water drops through the slots and debris slides off the end. The screen cleans itself continuously. In the BTGC catalogue it is listed for cooling water security in power plants.

Built for the Gulf and the Red Sea

The catalogue specifies high-durability stainless steel and copper-nickel for the screens. Copper-nickel resists bio-fouling, which matters in warm, highly saline water where marine growth is fast. Slot size, screen diameter and material are selected for each intake from the flow, the water quality and the local marine species.

Elgin Separation Solutions from BTGC

Elgin Separation Solutions of the USA, part of the TerraSource Global group, supplies water intake and solid-liquid separation equipment. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Passive and Coanda intake screens for seawater abstraction and cooling towers

• Vertical cuttings dryers that recover up to 95 % of synthetic drilling fluid

• Decanter centrifuges for mining tailings, sludge and oily water

• Vibrating screens for aggregate classification

Applications in the BTGC catalogue are desalination intake protection, upstream oil and gas and industrial wastewater. See our page for Elgin Separation Solutions in Saudi Arabia and the full process and separation offer.

Upgrading an existing intake

BTGC's project team handles intake screen upgrades as brownfield retrofits: survey, screen selection, fabrication, marine installation coordination and commissioning, without changing the plant footprint. This is listed in the catalogue under cooling and filtration upgrades.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports power and water utilities on both coasts. For a quotation send the design flow, the intake depth and location, the water quality data and the species to be protected.

Questions buyers ask

What slot size? It depends on the pump and downstream equipment; common slots are 1 to 10 mm. Smaller slots need a larger screen to keep the velocity low.

How is bio-fouling controlled? Copper-nickel construction, air-burst cleaning and, where needed, a chlorination point at the screen.

Are screens made to order? Yes, each screen is sized for its intake.

Contact BTGC

Email info@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: seawater destroys ordinary valves by corrosion, and large transmission lines destroy them by water hammer. A rubber-lined, double-eccentric butterfly valve answers both. BTGC supplies Nakakita Seisakusho Co., Ltd. butterfly valves up to 3000 mm for desalination and water transmission.

Saudi Arabia moves more seawater than almost any country on earth. Every desalination plant on the Gulf and the Red Sea takes in seawater through intake lines, passes it through pumps and membranes or evaporators, and sends potable water inland through pipelines that run for hundreds of kilometres. At every point a valve isolates, regulates or protects the line, and seawater attacks each one.

Two problems in one valve

Corrosion. Gulf seawater is warm and highly saline. Unprotected carbon steel pits within months; even some stainless grades suffer crevice corrosion. The valve seat and disc edge, where flow is fastest, go first.

Water hammer. When a pump trips or a valve closes too fast on a long line, the column of water keeps moving and then reverses. The pressure spike can crack valve bodies and lift pipe supports.

What a seawater butterfly valve needs

Nakakita valves from BTGC

Nakakita Seisakusho Co., Ltd. of Japan has built valves and fluid control systems since 1930. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• Concentric and double-eccentric rubber-lined butterfly valves for seawater and utility service, up to 3000 mm

• High-lift safety valves for boiler and steam protection

• Remote control systems: hydraulic power units and consoles to operate valves in inaccessible places

• Cargo handling valve systems for liquid loading and unloading

In the Kingdom these valves serve desalination intake and outfall, water transmission lines and tank farm automation. See the range on our page for Nakakita valves in Saudi Arabia and the full industrial valves offer.

Non-slam check valves complete the line

A butterfly valve regulates and isolates; a non-slam check valve protects the pump when flow reverses. BTGC supplies both, so a pumping station can be specified as one package. Ask for the surge analysis with the valve offer on any long transmission line.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC supports power and water utilities across the Kingdom from Dammam on the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, with the service center in Jubail for valve testing and repair. For a quotation send the line size, pressure rating, fluid (seawater, brine or potable), the actuation required and the closing time.

Questions buyers ask

Rubber lining or coating? A bonded rubber lining is thicker and resists abrasion from sand in the water; a coating is for lighter duty.

What closing time stops water hammer? It depends on the line length and velocity. BTGC can arrange a surge study for the pumping station.

Are spares held in the Kingdom? Seats and seals for common sizes are stocked; ask for the current list.

Contact the BTGC valve team

Email valves@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.

In short: where the air is full of dust, salt or heat, an air-cooled motor runs hot and fails early. A water-jacket cooled motor takes its cooling from the plant water circuit and ignores the air around it. BTGC supplies WEG WGM motors and services them at the WEG approved service center in Jubail.

Large motors in Saudi plants work in air that is hot for most of the year and often loaded with dust or salt. In cement raw mills and kiln drives the dust blocks cooling fins; at coastal desalination plants the salt corrodes them. Either way the motor runs above its design temperature, the insulation ages faster and the winding fails years before it should.

Why air cooling struggles here

An air-cooled motor moves heat from its windings to the frame, and from the frame to the air through fins and a fan. Three things defeat it in the Kingdom:

• Ambient air above 45 °C leaves little margin before the insulation limit.

• Dust settles on the fins and acts as a blanket.

• Salt-laden air corrodes fins and fan guards, cutting airflow year after year.

The usual answer, a larger motor or a derated one, costs more and takes more space.

How a water-jacket cooled motor works

A water-jacket cooled motor has a cooling circuit cast into or wrapped around its frame. Plant cooling water passes through the jacket and carries the heat away. The motor needs no external fan and no clean air. Its temperature follows the water temperature, not the ambient air.

WEG WGM motors from BTGC

WEG builds the WGM series of water-jacket cooled motors for exactly these conditions. The range BTGC supplies in the Kingdom covers:

• WGM water-jacket cooled induction motors for pumps, fans and mills

• High voltage M-Line and W60 motors up to 50 MW for compressors and large pumps

• M-Mining slip ring motors for high-inertia starts on cement kilns and raw mills

• W22 and W22X low voltage motors, including explosion-proof designs

• MVW medium voltage drives and SSW soft starters to match

Typical Saudi applications in the BTGC catalogue are SWCC desalination pumping and cement production areas where ambient dust and heat make air cooling impossible. See the range on our page for WEG motors in Saudi Arabia and the full electric motors and drives offer.

Replacing an old motor without civil work

Most enquiries BTGC receives are replacements, not new installations. The new motor must fit the old foundation, shaft height and coupling. BTGC designs and fabricates transition bases and adapter plates so the new WEG unit bolts onto the existing foundation, with no re-grouting. The catalogue calls this the drop-in program: a shutdown measured in days rather than weeks.

BTGC support in Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu

BTGC has supplied WEG motors to Saudi industry for years and operates the WEG approved service center in Jubail. The center rewinds, overhauls, balances and load-tests LV, MV and HV motors up to 10 MW and 13.8 kV, with Class H and F insulation systems built for desert heat. Field teams cover power and water utilities, petrochemical plants and cement works from the Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu branches.

To quote a replacement, send us the nameplate photo, the duty (pump, fan, mill), the ambient conditions and the cooling water available.

Questions buyers ask

Does a water-cooled motor need special water? It needs clean cooling water within the temperature and flow limits on the datasheet. Most plants take it from the existing closed cooling circuit.

Can it replace an air-cooled motor of the same frame? Often yes, with an adapter base. BTGC checks the shaft height, flange and terminal box position before quoting.

Who repairs it in the Kingdom? The BTGC service center in Jubail, which is WEG approved.

Contact the BTGC power team

Email power@btc-ksa.com or call +966 13 856 0528. Branches: Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. Request a quote.