Expanding its circular water recovery initiatives across its regional sites in Kütahya and Antalya, İGSAŞ has committed capital to large-scale seawater desalination in Kocaeli. With Lake Sapanca, the primary freshwater basin for the regional industrial belt, dropping to critical water surface elevations of 28.5–28.9 meters during early 2026, the project provides a resilient alternative supply for plant utility demands.
Engineered with advanced membrane and Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration systems, the water treatment plant features a daily output capacity of 5,400 cubic meters and an annual throughput potential of approximately 2 million cubic meters.
Equivalent to Annual Use of 13,000 Households
Key operational benchmarks of the investment program include:
Freshwater Abatement: Mitigates the withdrawal of 2,700 cubic meters per day and approximately 83,000 cubic meters per month, yielding 1 million cubic meters of annual potable water conservation—equivalent to the domestic consumption of roughly 13,000 four-person households.
Low-Impact Marine Intake: Eliminates direct supplementary seawater extraction by diverting feed volumes exclusively from existing industrial cooling water discharge circuits, avoiding physical marine intake disruption.
Operational Timeline: Targeted for full commercial deployment during the first quarter of 2027.
Blue Water Efficiency Status: In line with water preservation frameworks overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, İGSAŞ holds Blue Level Water Efficiency Certifications across all five domestic production assets in Kocaeli, Kütahya, Antalya, Samsun, and Hatay.
Executive Commentary
İlkay Ünal, General Manager of İGSAŞ, noted:
Responsible water stewardship is a strategic necessity for long-term industrial operations rather than simply a regulatory metric. World Resources Institute (WRI) indicators rank Turkey 39th globally in water stress with a score of 3.39, highlighting the imperative for immediate industrial water recovery infrastructure.
Our seawater reverse osmosis investment in Kocaeli will significantly ease municipal and industrial demand on the Lake Sapanca catchment. We remain dedicated to deploying resource-efficient, low-discharge manufacturing models that integrate circular principles directly into our production lines.
About İGSAŞ
Established in 1971, Istanbul Fertilizer Industry Inc. (İGSAŞ) supplies approximately 20% of Turkey's aggregate mineral fertilizer requirements. Operating industrial plants across Kocaeli, Kütahya, Antalya, Samsun, and Hatay, the company produces urea, NPK, DAP, CAN, and specialty chemical grades alongside organomineral formulations. Employing over 900 personnel and maintaining an 800-tier distribution network, İGSAŞ delivers core feedstocks across agricultural and industrial markets.
