Klaus Wangnick

1938–
Independent expert

Grand Master of outsize multi-stage flash; keeper of the Inventory for over 20 years.

Klaus Wangnick – Klaus Wangnick
Klaus Wangnick – Klaus Wangnick

Klaus began his desalination career at Krupp in 1964, eventually becoming Technical Director of the desalination and water treatment division. His work covered several hundred plants from RO and MSF to MED and submerged tube shipboard evaporators, including Ceuta, Krupp Germany, and the Rumaith. In 1983, he formed Wangnick Consulting, which worked on the world's largest desalination units.

Klaus was a founder of the German Seawater Desalination Association (DME), in 2003. In 2006, he wound up Wangnick Consulting, but still works occasionally as an independent desalination expert.

 
In Libya, we negotiated the agreement for a large plant, and concluded the contract after approval by experts in our legal department. Unfortunately, the lawyers made a mistake that subsequently led to a gigantic claim by the Libyans.

The contract stated 'electrical power and water' had to be provided by the Libyans during the construction phase. And this they did.

Unfortunately, the little phrase 'free of charge' was missing from the contract, so electricity and water was billed at such high unit prices that we joked our payments may have been used to purchase sizeable quantities of gold.

Landmark plants:

  • Al Taweelah B (Abu Dhabi, UAE, 356,000m3/d, 1996, MSF) – largest MSF units ever built (56,700m3/d each);
  • Qarn Alam (Oman, 1,600m3/d, 1992, MVC) – for steam used in oil extraction, involving piping feedwater some 15km;
  • Alba (Bahrain, 428,000m3/d, 2001, MED-TVC) – within an aluminium factory and powered by coke calcining plant waste heat;
  • AVR (Netherlands, 24,000m3/d, 2000, MED) – producing high-purity distillate as process water, with heat from waste-water flash chambers;
  • Itea/Kalamos/Souli (Greece, 100,000m3/d, 1994, RO) – emergency additional water supply to Athens.