Salt Separation Services, a Rochdale (UK) based SME, has recently been awarded a contract by ASC Shipbuilding Pty Ltd, a BAE Systems Australia company, to design and manufacture Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination plants and associated water treatment equipment for the first three Hunter class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.

Each ship will be fitted with two RO plants in addition to a filtration package and chlorine dosing unit which will be provided for the treatment of embarked fresh water.

This contract is the latest in a series of projects undertaken by Salt Separation Services for the marine and offshore industries. The company is actively involved in providing equipment and through life support for the UK’s Royal Navy, with equipment fitted on Type 23 frigates, QE-class Aircraft Carriers, LPD-class, MCMV’s, SRMH’s and some submarines.

Importantly, this contract underpins Salt Separation Services’ commitment to Australian Industry with a significant amount of the contracted scope to progressively occur in Australia for the three ships.

Salt Separation Services have previously manufactured sixteen RO plants for installation onto the Royal Australian Navy’s eight Anzac class frigates as part of the Anzac Platform Systems Remediation (PSR) Program, between 2017 and 2022.