In a world where every drop counts, operating critical infrastructure below its potential is no longer an option—it’s a missed opportunity. Desalination plants, which transform a virtually infinite resource like seawater into tangible water security, must lead by example in efficiency and climate resilience. Yet thousands of them still operate with components that limit their ability to meet growing demand. This project, located in Spain’s province of Alicante, breaks that inertia.
Instead of expanding networks or building new modules, it proposes something smarter: replacing outdated membranes with next-generation units capable of producing more water using the same system, the same feedwater volume, and less specific energy. Installing DuPont™ Seamaxx™-440i membranes—with an active surface area 30% larger than the current models—allows for a substantial increase in treated flow without modifying a single element of the existing infrastructure. This seemingly invisible upgrade fundamentally transforms the plant’s operational performance and environmental impact.
What’s at stake is not just operational efficiency, but the ability to guarantee safe water for more than 500,000 people without relying on continental freshwater sources. This is a textbook example of a VWBA 2.0-aligned A-110 intervention—generating a measurable, traceable, additional, and intentional water benefit with no physical expansion and no added waste. It is a scalable, auditable, and replicable solution for hundreds of similar facilities across the Mediterranean and other coastal regions facing severe water stress. In short, this is a concrete action that turns technology into resilience, operations into sustainability, and efficiency into leadership.
The Alicante I desalination plant runs with a robust configuration, but its performance is constrained by outdated membrane technology. The currently installed SU-820FA membranes—featuring 338 ft² of active surface area and a flow rate of 19 m³/day per unit—are no longer fit for the system’s current demands. They restrict production volume and require higher operating pressures, which increases specific energy consumption and reduces the overall system efficiency. The result: less water when it is most needed, and higher costs per cubic meter.
This project is both a technical and climate-driven response. Replacing the current membranes with Seamaxx™-440i units (440 ft² surface area, higher unit flow, and better energy performance) allows daily production to increase without drawing more seawater or modifying the pumps, racks, or system pressure. Each upgraded rack becomes more productive, more energy-efficient, and more resilient to seasonal variations in feedwater quality and demand.
The benefits are immediate: more potable water without civil works, reduced pressure on continental freshwater sources, lower energy consumption per cubic meter produced, and a more stable water supply system. Technically, the project is expected to deliver a significant increase in conversion efficiency (up to +20%) and a decrease in specific energy use (kWh/m³). Commercially, the return on investment is estimated at less than 12 months, thanks to operational savings and the potential valuation of generated VWBs. Environmentally, it helps alleviate stress on the overexploited Júcar basin and protects adjacent marine ecosystems through well-established brine discharge management.
This intervention not only optimizes a critical asset—it redefines what a desalination plant must be in times of water emergency. It achieves this without service disruption, footprint expansion, or quality compromise. A clear, measurable, scalable model that positions its operators as true agents of change. In a world that demands verifiable results, this is the kind of solution that turns infrastructure into impact.
The proposed solution consists of the full replacement of the current membranes with next-generation units offering greater active surface area and significantly higher productivity. Specifically, the project proposes the installation of DuPont™ Seamaxx™-440i membranes, which feature an active surface area of 440 ft² per unit and are designed to maximize water production per installed unit. These membranes allow operation under similar pressure, flow, and hydraulic configuration conditions but with a significantly higher water generation capacity. The project does not require modifications to the racks, operating pressure, or pumping systems, ensuring rapid, controlled implementation without significant service disruptions.
From a technical perspective, the intervention is considered an internal efficiency optimization.
Seawater intake is not increased, nor is the pretreatment process modified; rather, the conversion of saline water into potable water is improved through better use of the exchange surface. The expected result is higher daily production with the same overall energy consumption, and even with reduced specific consumption (kWh/m³). This solution represents a technological improvement strategy with a clear, measurable, traceable, and attributable water benefit, making it an excellent example of intervention under the VWBA framework.
The implementation of the project is structured in five well-defined phases, beginning with a pilot stage to validate the technical compatibility of the new membranes under real operating conditions. It is followed by full-scale staged replacement, incorporating quality control mechanisms, operational validation, and long-term monitoring.
Preliminary Phase: Technical Validation Pilot:Before full deployment, a pilot installation is conducted on one rack of the plant. This initial trial allows observation of the Seamaxx™-440i membranes’ behavior under real feedwater, pressure, conversion, and fouling conditions. During this phase, flow rate, salt rejection, differential pressure, and specific energy consumption are measured using inline sensors and SCADA system logs. Results are compared to historical values from the same rack, serving as technical validation of the potential benefit and ensuring operational compatibility.
Stage 1: Technical Planning and Procurement: In this stage, the comprehensive operational design for replacement is developed, defining timelines, technical resources, and monitoring criteria. Hydraulic compatibility is confirmed through pressure and flow simulations, and logistics for delivery and installation of the Seamaxx™-440i membranes are planned. A phased scheme is designed to avoid interruptions to the plant’s overall operation.
Stage 2: Progressive Replacement and Quality Control: Installation is carried out rack by rack. Each membrane is replaced following certified technical protocols, with individual traceability through physical ID registration linked to its position and line. Upon completing each partial replacement, tightness, flow, and pressure differential tests are conducted. These measurements are obtained through pressure and flow sensors connected to SCADA, enabling immediate performance verification.
Stage 3: Comprehensive Operational Validation: Once the replacement is complete, a ramp-up phase begins with comparative analysis against the baseline. Daily flows, conversion efficiency, permeate conductivity, and specific energy consumption are monitored for 4 to 6 weeks. Measurements are validated through SCADA-generated reports and cross-verifications by the technical team of the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla. This stage confirms whether the projected benefits are realized in real operation.
Stage 4: Ongoing Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance: The upgraded system is incorporated into the plant’s permanent monitoring scheme. Inline sensors are used to continuously track key variables: permeate flow per rack, feed pressure, water temperature, permeate conductivity, and energy consumption. Monthly reports consolidate these data, and internal audits are conducted semiannually. In addition, performance thresholds are set to trigger predictive maintenance actions, ensuring that the project’s benefits (VWBs) are sustained over time. This stage also includes data availability for external VWBA validation audits.
Technologies or Actions Applied
Monitoring Plan
The monitoring plan is based on a continuous approach, structured around technical and water performance indicators.
In a context of growing water stress, sustained demand, and mounting pressure on conventional water sources, the Alicante I desalination plant stands out as a key asset for securing water supply in Spain’s Levante region. Operated by the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla, this plant provides water to hundreds of thousands of people in the municipalities of Alicante, Elche, and Santa Pola, with an installed capacity of 50,000 m³/day. However, its infrastructure was operating below its full potential due to membrane technology limitations—restricted active surface area, lower energy efficiency, and constrained production capacity.
This project proposes a simple, efficient, and revolutionary transformation: replacing the current membranes with next-generation models offering greater active surface area, capable of increasing output without the need for construction work, rack modifications, pressure changes, or any alteration to the existing hydraulic system. It is a 100% compatible intervention, quick to implement, with immediate impact in terms of available water volume, operational efficiency, and energy performance.
The technical solution is clear: DuPont™ Seamaxx™-440i membranes are installed, engineered to maximize flow at lower pressure and with reduced specific energy consumption. This upgrade increases the availability of potable and agricultural water in the region, while reducing operational costs and relieving pressure on continental freshwater resources. In other words, more water, less energy, same system.
The project is executed in five carefully designed phases:
Pilot phase: field validation of the new membranes on a specific rack, evaluating their real performance under local operating conditions. This stage confirms hydraulic and energy compatibility without disrupting plant operations.
Planning and procurement: full operational design of the upgrade, logistics planning, and the integration of monitoring and traceability protocols.
Progressive replacement: staged execution rack by rack, ensuring the plant remains fully operational while each membrane is individually registered through SCADA and digital traceability.
Comprehensive operational validation: monitoring of flow rates, conversion efficiency, specific energy consumption, and permeate quality over several weeks, benchmarked against the baseline.
Ongoing monitoring and predictive maintenance: integration into the plant’s long-term monitoring system using inline sensors, monthly reporting, semi-annual audits, and alerts for performance deviations.
Beyond operational efficiency, this project generates a Volumetric Water Benefit (VWB) amounting to millions of cubic meters per year, fully measurable and certifiable under the VWBA 2.0 framework. The benefit is traceable per unit, directly attributable to the intervention, and persistent over at least five years.
The project’s benefits span multiple dimensions:
The project contributes directly to 10 Sustainable Development Goals, including food security (SDG 2), health (SDG 3), water efficiency (SDG 6), sustainable energy (SDG 7), industrial innovation (SDG 9), climate action (SDG 13), marine protection (SDG 14), and the reinforcement of strategic partnerships (SDG 17).
In short, this intervention turns a conventional desalination plant into an international model of water, technological, and economic efficiency—with no civil works, no service interruptions, no negative impact, and everything to gain.
Investing in this project means investing in more water, more resilience, and a more secure future for the region.
