Salt separation technology: Israeli

Israel has become a world leader in advances in salt separation technology with five salt separation plants operating day and night, generating over 50% of "artificial" drinking water. This success not only addressed the shortage of water but also opened Israel with an opportunity to export soft drinks and exclusive technologies to many other countries around the world.

Save yourself before heaven saves

With a Mediterranean climate combined with a desert climate (nearly half of Israel's desert area), Israel faces constant water shortages and desertification. Traditional Israeli water sources are rapidly degraded due to low rainfall, increasing population and increasing demand for drinking water and agricultural water. Water shortages culminated when Israel suffered a seven-year drought, beginning in 2005 and the peak of winter in the 2008-2009 period. Israel's natural water sources - including the Galilee Sea in the North and coastal aquifers - are severely degraded, seriously affecting water quality. The future is "gloomier" when climate models predict that Israel continues to reduce natural water resources until 2035.

Facing this situation, the Israeli government has implemented many measures to increase supply and reduce demand. People are advised to reduce the bath time by two minutes a day, washing cars with banned fountains, and educated children become a "tiny water police force" , reminding people Large family use water-saving. The Israeli government has also taken drastic measures to reduce annual water quota for farmers, thereby ending decades of wasteful use of water due to the regime of water supply for agriculture.

Salt separation plant on the coast near Hadera town, Israel.

 

In 2009, Israel also adopted a two-tiered tax system whereby households consuming more water than would be subject to higher prices, and this increase would be used to subsidize households. low demand for water use; At the same time, the Water Committee was established in 2007 with the task of responsible for water resources, such as the staff of this committee going to each house to install free shower heads and devices. water tap; These devices help bring air into the water stream, thus saving about 1/3 of the water consumption while still creating a sense of strong flow for users. According to Israeli government information, "smart" water use has helped reduce 18% of water consumption in households in this country.

Despite many measures to increase supply, the reduction in demand for water has been made, but the crisis of water resources is still insecure for Israel. In this context, the salt separation technology became "savior" for Israel. This is not a new technology, but many places in the world have restricted the use of this method for a long time due to its energy-consuming characteristics and high carbon emissions. Therefore, Israel's long-term national water resources development plan is coordinated by both the public and private sectors. For example, Ashkelon, the world's largest salt separator, is built by private companies with a capital of $ 200 million; in return, the Israeli government promised to buy a certain amount of water every year from the factory, while receiving ownership of the plant in 2027. And with the development of science, the technology is on the rise. cheaper, cleaner and more energy efficient (currently, Israel has been able to produce the cheapest salt water in the world for about 14,000 VND / m3).

In the past decade alone, Israel has grown to four large-scale water separators, capable of producing over 130 billion gallons of water per year. Currently, over 50% of the water used for civilian, agricultural and industrial activities in Israel is artificial. Shlomo Wald, the chief expert at Israel's Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, proudly said: "Israel is the center of the world's salt separation secrets. We do not manufacture filters, we do not manufacture pumps, but We have profound knowledge about water treatment techniques as well as how to design, build and operate a water separator plant ".

Separation of salt and beyond

However, salt separation is not without potential ecological risks and threatening marine life, while increasing the cost of water use. However, "The main problem of the world in the future is the water crisis. Everyone understands that the demand for water is increasing every day , " said Gilad Erdan, Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection. know. Being aware of this, besides salt separation technology, Israel also developed many technologies to help conserve water. Currently, through special legislation to raise wastewater treatment standards, Israel is also a world leader in recycling and reusing wastewater for agriculture. 86% of Israel's domestic wastewater is recycled - this is not a small number if Spain is the second largest recycling country in the world, with a ratio of 20% recycled water. (US only about 1%). According to Distel, in " Israel, we use every drop of water twice."

Sea salt.

In addition, Israel is also considered a leading country in drip irrigation technology. According to figures from the International Irrigation Commission, about 90-95% of Israeli agriculture uses irrigation technology, while the US has only modestly under 7%.

According to an analysis of Israeli experts, it is thanks to the combination of many measures - from taking advantage of rainwater, recycling waste water, removing salt in the sea, to large-scale campaigns to conserve water - but today Israel almost no longer has to worry about drought. It can be considered a miracle considering the new research published by NASA in March 2016 that in the period of 1998-2012, the eastern Mediterranean region suffered the worst drought in 900 years ago.

Without overslept on victory, Israel is still actively conducting research and development activities to improve water resources. Professor Yoram Oren of Ben-Gurion University, Israel, said: "The call of the environment is telling us to find more effective ways to treat water, not just sea but all. Existing water sources - waste water, agricultural water, urban water, there must be more complex technologies because today, we are not simply protecting the water source from salinity but also from the complexes. organic substances, inorganic compounds, bacteria, viruses, proteins, sugars, and countless other impurities in the water ".