Producing Clean Water for the Dead Sea Region
Low humidity and high temperatures contribute to limited water supplies in the Dead Sea region, where local industries must often rely on expensive deliveries by water trucks. Desalitech, a provider of high-efficiency water production and wastewater treatment solutions, has been able to provide an effective, low-cost alternative for clean water for industry by producing high-quality purified water from brackish water.
The company recently announced that Environmental Protection Technologies (EPT) of Israel will increase the production rate of its reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment system by 50%. Located at the Dead Sea Works chemical plant in Israel, the Closed Circuit Desalination (CCD?) RO plant designed by Desalitech is owned and operated by EPT and currently produces 100 gallons of purified water per minute to supply drinking water for an industrial compound and process water for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Its reliable performance spurred an increased demand for purified water at the site, leading to the planned expansion.
Handling Problematic Water Sources
Low humidity and temperatures that regularly exceed 105°F during summer contribute to limited water supplies in the Dead Sea region. The existing Desalitech RO plant has enabled EPT to make efficient use of a brackish water source near the site, producing high-quality purified water despite high amounts of organic matter and minerals in the pond and the extreme variations in water chemistry, temperature, and dust.
"Customers trust EPT to successfully handle problematic water sources and waste streams. Desalitech's high-recovery water systems provide a better solution in challenging conditions than conventional RO processes," said Yechiel Menuchin, CEO of EPT. "With Desalitech, we can achieve the high recovery rates our customers desire, making the maximum use of scarce water resources while minimizing water treatment costs. The system's proven track record of performance and high reliability gives us the confidence to increase capacity to keep up with customer demand."
EPT will also begin offering Desalitech systems to other industrial customers around the world. Desalitech systems optimize limited supplies of scarce water through high water recovery that is resetting the bar for the water treatment industry. Furthermore, high water-use efficiency reduces disposal costs for inland locations by limiting the amount of residual concentrate created.
