LG Chem, a South Korean company principally engaged in the manufacture of petrochemical materials, says it has been signed up by the UAE-based Metito as the sole supplier of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for the upcoming seawater desalination plant that the global water treatment company is building in Port Said in Egypt, TradeArabia reports.

Once completed, the plant will be the country’s largest providing fresh water to about two mn people a day, according to the company statement. The plant has a total capacity of 300,000 tons.

The Korean group is stepping up its drive to lead the global water treatment market after winning Egypt’s largest project to turn seawater into freshwater. Last year, it won an order from a plant in Oman with 250,000-ton capacity.

These two contracts have brought LG Chem closer to the global market leadership, says Cheoldong Jeong, the president of IT&E Materials Company at LG Chem.

Salt concentration and water temperature in the Red Sea area including El-Galala are the highest in the world, requiring RO membranes to satisfy difficult conditions, states Jeong.

However, LG Chem’s RO membranes are 25% superior to competitors in terms of filtered water quality. They also save much energy, he points out.

LG Chem has earlier supplied its products to Coca Cola, Panasonic and other world renowned companies in the industrial RO membrane market, raising its global competitiveness. It has also expanded its customer base to various industrial fields at home and abroad.