Capital Engineering Consultancy LLC approached NPCS with an idea that was both commercially ambitious and environmentally compelling: take the sodium chloride-rich brine that desalination plants in the UAE discharge as waste, reprocess it, and use it as the primary feedstock for soda ash production. The logic was sound. The Gulf's desalination infrastructure is among the largest in the world, brine disposal is a growing environmental concern, and the GCC imports the bulk of its soda ash from China, Turkey, and Europe. The gap was obvious. The question was whether the project could actually be made to work — technically, financially, and operationally.

That's where NPCS came in.

The engagement ran across 26 weeks and was structured in six stages. We started with opportunity screening, confirming that NaCl reprocessing and soda ash production was the right fit given the client's location, available feedstock, and investment appetite. From there, we moved into market research — mapping GCC import volumes, end-user demand across glass manufacturing, detergents, water treatment, and construction chemicals, and benchmarking pricing against international commodity markets. Soda ash global demand exceeds 60 million metric tonnes annually, and the Middle East is one of the fastest-growing demand zones with very limited local production. The import substitution case was strong.

On the technical side, the process selected was the Modified Solvay Process, adapted specifically for desalination brine feedstock. This approach materially reduces raw material costs compared to conventional mined halite operations. We documented the full production sequence — from brine intake and multi-stage purification through ammonia absorption, carbonation, calcination, ammonia recovery, and final drying and packaging — and specified the key machinery and process control systems required. The environmental profile was an added advantage: CO2 generated during calcination is recycled back into the process, and closed-loop ammonia recovery eliminates hazardous effluent discharge, keeping the plant fully compliant with UAE and GCC environmental standards.

The financial modelling covered a total project cost in the range of USD 15–25 million depending on site and capacity decisions, with estimated annual revenues of USD 12–20 million. Gross profit margins in the 25–35% range, an IRR of 20–28% over a ten-year horizon, and a payback period of four to six years under conservative assumptions. Break-even sits at 55–65% capacity utilisation — achievable well within the early years of operation.

Capital Engineering Consultancy reviewed the full DPR and formally approved the findings. The project is moving to implementation.