While water is a valuable resource in every country, it is particularly precious in Oman, which is 82% desert. Oman has a desert climate, no rivers, and its average annual rainfall amounts to only 100 mm. Due to these unique geographical and climate-related factors, Oman has suffered from a chronic water shortage.From around the mid-1970s, the construction of seawater desalination plants across Oman enabled the creation of a water supply network that could supply safe water to the nation’s citizens. However, due to population growth and urbanization mainly in the capital of Muscat, a new issue came to the fore—the reuse of wastewater. To enable effective reuse of the country’s limited water resources with minimal waste, an advanced wastewater treatment system was essential. Kubota’s submerged membrane units^*2 were the solution.

At the Al Ansab Sewage Treatment Plant in Muscat, a sewage treatment facility using Kubota’s membrane bioreactor (MBR) method has been in operation since 2010, playing a key role in the reuse of treated water. The membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment method combines biological treatment using microorganisms and solid-liquid separation using membranes. Later, Kubota was entrusted with a new project—the large-scale expansion of this sewage treatment plant.

Work began in early 2016, and it was by no means easy. As operation of the sewage treatment facilities couldn’t be stopped, plans and procedures were put together in advance and the submerged membrane units were replaced while operation continued. The work proceeded steadily, and operations of the new equipment began upon completion in May 2018. Sewage treatment capacity prior to the work was 57,000 m3 per day, and this increased monumentally to 125,000 m3. As a result, at the time, the Al Ansab Sewage Treatment Plant boasted the largest MBR-based treatment capacity in the Middle East.

The MBR method put to use as part of this project was a key technology that eradicated water shortage problems by facilitating the reuse of water, even in the arid Middle East. Today, Kubota’s MBR technology is playing a vital role in various countries and regions, including Europe, the US, China, and Southeast Asia. Looking ahead, as with its submerged membrane units, Kubota will continue to tackle the world’s water issues through its world-leading products, technological capabilities, and expertise.