China initiates first zero-emission seawater desalination project

Construction started on China's first zero-emission seawater desalination plant in the northern costal city of Tianjin on Thursday.

Costing 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) by XIANDA (Tianjin) Seawater Resources Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Malaysia's Enersave Group, the project is expected to go into operation in 2017 and desalinate 300,000 tonnes of seawater per day.

The project in Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone will supply water for petrochemical plants in the zone, according to Victor Wee, chairman of XIANDA.

"We will not only supply water for industrial, but also produce chemicals with the strong brine residue," said Wee. "We can also desalinate seawater to the standard of drinking water, if necessary."

The project is one of the eight economic and trade cooperation projects signed in October 2013 during the China-Malaysia Economic Summit.

China is Malaysia's largest trade partner. Bilateral volume of trade has topped 100 billion U.S. dollars.