DuPont today announced that its FilmTec™ membranes have been selected by IDE Water Technologies to provide the sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) filtration for the Sorek B desalination plant in Israel.
The 25-year, 200 million m3/year facility, which will be the largest desalination plant in Israel and one of the largest in the world, is predicted to set a new benchmark for seawater desalination water prices on a global scale. IDE Water Technologies designed the state-of-the-art plant to drive efficiency, environmental sustainability, and achieve an exceptionally low water price. The durability, rejection, energy efficiency, and extremely long lifespans of the FilmTec™ membranes are expected to contribute to the lower long-term costs of the plant.
DuPont is providing SWRO membrane elements to the project site, including dry SWRO elements. The dry SWRO membranes will give IDE and its project managers more flexibility and ease of installation. As dry membranes do not require preservation solution, they enable longer storage times, lower labor costs, and easier, long-term warehouse planning. The dry membranes are also more sustainable, using less water and chemicals in production and significantly reducing the carbon footprint of shipping.
“As our industry works to solve global water challenges, solutions that address sustainability and affordability will have the biggest impact,” said HP Nanda, global vice president and general manager, DuPont Water Solutions. “We are proud to continue our work with IDE Water Technologies to bring affordable seawater desalination to Israel and tackle water shortages in one of the driest parts of the world.”
“We’re convinced that the new standard we’ve set will help propel the water treatment world forward, and encourage the construction of additional high efficiency, environmentally sustainable and low-cost desalination facilities worldwide,” said Avshalom Felber, Executive Chairman, IDE Technologies.
The largest of its kind reverse osmosis plant will be built in Sorek central Israel, and will increase Israel’s desalination capacity by 35 percent. The Sorek B plant is expected to come online in 2023, with an annual production capacity of 200 million cubic meters. It will be the sixth desalination plant Israel has built along its Mediterranean coast as the country braces for the risk of climate change and regional conflicts, aggravating water shortages.
Desalination removes salt and other chemicals from seawater to produce freshwater for municipal, agricultural, energy or industrial use. The world’s oceans contain over 97 percent of the planet’s water resources, providing an essentially unlimited raw material for seawater desalination.
DuPont Water Solutions (DWS), a leader in sustainable water purification and separation technologies, including ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis membranes and ion exchange resins, has been innovating and producing solutions in support of desalination for more than 40 years. The company continues to be at the forefront of reverse osmosis products that pursue sustainability—from lower energy membranes to the recent launch of dry seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO)—as well as the continuous enhancement of membrane durability to enable extremely long membrane lifetimes.
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