An innovative membrane-based municipal wastewater treatment system is being developed in Israel by a collaboration between GE, Desalitech Ltd and the national water company, Mekorot.
The project is part of a GE-Desalitech research collaboration supported by the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD).
The 100 m³/d test system will feature Desalitech’s Closed Circuit Desalination and GE’s ultra-low energy membrane reverse-osmosis technologies, and will be evaluated at Mekorot’s Research and Development Center in Shafdan, Israel. Treated municipal wastewater with approximately 1,000 ppm of dissolved solids will be purified with a single stage of membrane elements at a recovery rate of 92% or higher for agricultural reuse.
The construction of the demonstration unit is complete and is expected to be installed and fully operational within a month.