Sidem was incorporated on 1st January 1971 as a standalone company. The original shareholders were the Compagnie Electro-Mecanique (C.E.M.) a subsidiary of Brown Boveri Corporation, and St Gobain Pont-à-Mousson.
Sidem was able to capitalise on the solid and long-lasting experience acquired by C.E.M. and its desalination department of Société de Condensation et d'Applications Mécaniques (SCAM).
The first units were mainly destined to vessels, based on Multiple Effect Distillation (MED), but also in some cases on the Flash-Recycle principle (MSF).
Then, as the onshore market grew, Sidem pushed the development of its MSF-technology. The first larger MSF plant built by Sidem was Nouakchott Mauritania in 1966. It could produce 3,000 m3/day.
