Curaçao Refinery Utilities (CRU), located in the Caribbean, faced difficulties meeting the water demand of its customer, Isla Refinery. CRU struggled to maintain production due to unscheduled maintenance and downtime of its thermal desalination and seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) units. This insufficient water supply led to unplanned refinery shutdowns, causing millions of dollars in lost revenue each day.

CRU requested that Seven Seas Water Group provide an emergency supply of industrial-quality water as quickly as possible to supplement the shortfalls, and to provide a buffer during required maintenance work to return units to designed capacity. Over time, CRU continued to request additional capacity and eventually turned over all water operations to Seven Seas.

Flexible Solutions

Seven Seas responded to the customer’s requirements with a five-phase solution. An initial immediate supply of 452,000 GPD (1,711 m³/d) of containerized capacity was delivered to the site within two weeks. Over the following years, Seven Seas installed an additional 1,907,000 GPD (7,219 m³/d) and took over an additional 2,536,000 GPD (9,600 m³/d) for a combined total of 4,895,000 GPD (18,530 m³/d). Seven Seas used a two-pass design to produce water with a final product quality of 25 uS/cm.

The refinery’s supply of feed water was from a slow-moving marsh in a busy harbor containing significant oil, grease, and biological content. Seven Seas resolved all pretreatment challenges through appropriate design enhancements and operational protocols.

No Capital Investment

Under a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) arrangement, which required no upfront capital investment from CRU, Seven Seas provided water over a 10-year term, concurrent with refinery operations. Seven Seas financed, designed, built, operated, and maintained the units, guaranteeing water quality and quantity at a fixed cost with no surprises.

Fast, Guaranteed Results

Within one week of the contract signing, the first phase of the project —452,000 GPD (1,711 m³/d) of reverse osmosis capacity — was shipped to the site, and an emergency supply was flowing in less than two months. The second phase of 1,003,200 GPD (3,800 m³/d) was supplied in less than 12 months, bringing the total to 1,454,200 GPD (5,505 m³/d).

Over the next several years, Seven Seas expanded its presence by adding new capacities and acquiring existing infrastructure, resulting in a total capacity of 4,895,000 GPD (18,530 m³/d).

At the conclusion of the BOOT contract in 2019, Seven Seas successfully transferred the facility back to CRU in good working order.