Posted on 03/23/2007 10:23:00 AM PDT by RussianDude
ASHKELON, Israel - Israel displayed its best desalination plant to visiting diplomats Thursday, marking International Water Day by demonstrating how the desert nation keeps from shriveling in the sun.
The plant, at the southern port of Ashkelon, turns 330,000 cubic meters of Mediterranean seawater into fresh water every day for about 53 cents each — compared to 80 cents at other plants, according to an official from the company that built the Israeli facility.
Ezra Barkai, desk manager for IDE technologies, said the plant uses the common reverse osmosis technology that pushes water through a series of filters to remove salt, but also streamlines and reuses energy sources to make the finished product relatively inexpensive.
"Its very impressive," said Zhou Hui, economic and commercial counselor from the Chinese embassy. "Chinas economy is growing very quickly, and we need water just as much as fuel or steel. We hope Israel can show us how to expand our industry without destroying our environment and natural resources."
Hui said that China was considering spending around $100 million for a pilot desalination facility that would produce about a third as much as the one in Ashkelon.
Hey, this gives me a great idea to solve the major global warming issue of rising sea levels: If the Chinese, with over a billion people start using sea water with these desalinization plants, that would take billions and billions of gallons of water out of the oceans each year. This would offset the rising levels caused by melting icecaps and, voila!, no problem.
If the Israelis, a nation of 6 million, have just one plant doing 330,000 cubic meters a day, imagine what the Chinese need is. They would probably need 150 times that amount.
Is this totally crazy or what?
R.O is very old technology, first developed to purify drinking water for submarines. That said, I agree with you that if there is anything proprietary, the Chinese will steal it if they can.
desalination costs should be about 1/10th of current Ashkelon costs in about 7 years.
I've been told that it keeps you alive, but tastes awful.
Yes, RO is well known technology. I think it is the engineering the Israelis have done to improve the energy efficiency of the process that would be the target of any Chinese piracy.
Carlsbad, CA is trying to do this and the coastal commission is trying to stop it. You can build a 7 story hotel in Oceanside, but not a desalinization plant in Carlsbad.
I'm kind of out of step with the commercial side of the business. If true, it would represent a breakthrough.
BTW, on another thread, it was reported a judge (shock) in California wants to limit the water supply to the Southland because of concerns about damage to marine life in the pumps.
It IS totally crazy.
Water used by consumers just flows Right back into rivers and the Ocean- it doesn't change sea level at all.
It really is an unbelievably naive thought.
ooooph
Oooooph is right. However, I think you've also made a boo boo. Water used in the consumer setting (household use, business use) does not necessarily flow "right back into rivers and to the ocean". In many cases, wastewater is disposed through sewers to treatment plants where it is often reprocessed into potable water or water used for irrigation, etc. In other instances, it is discharged through septic systems, where it is percolated back into the earth, to become a part of watever groundwater system there is. Not all groundwater or runoff from irrigation ends up in the ocean. At least I don't think so.
So, I don't think the thought is "unbelievably naive" from that standpoint. I thought my somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggestion might get panned but frankly, I thought the sillier part was to imagine the Chinese building these hundreds or thousands of desalination plants and that the sum total of the water taken out of the ocean would really make a difference.
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