Hadera desalination plant two years of operation

Abstract

In May 2010, IDE Technologies Ltd. completed the Hadera plant, one of the world’s largest operating seawater reverse osmosis desalination facilities. This was a milestone event for the desalination industry clearly confirming IDE’s clear leadership of the mega-sized desalination market. IDE’s design for the Hadera plant utilizes the three center design (pumping, membrane, and energy recovery centers), cascade boron treatment, and other technologies to decrease energy requirements and increase overall efficiency. These technologies have enabled Hadera to achieve one of the lowest ever costs for high-quality desalinated water.One of the main challenges met in the design of the plant was the minimization of the energy cost by utilizing the different electricity tariffs over a 24-h period, as well as a variable operation production regime. Moreover, the specific energy cost was further reduced by taking advantage of the common pressure center design during the peak electricity periods. Hourly variations in production from 100 to 40% are typical figures in day-to-day plant operation. The brackish reverse osmosis system patented cascade design demonstrates the system’s ability to produce water with low boron content, minimum operational risks, and at the highest recovery ratios. The posttreatment system design is optimized to produce high-quality potable water in terms of the required alkalinity, hardness, pH and langelier saturation index through intensive rehardening, while still optimizing capital and operational costs. Recently the plant completed its second year of operation. This article describes the current plant operation section-by-section.

Keywords:

• Optimization
• Energy cost
• Energy consumption
• Variable production regime
• Electricity tariff

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to OMIS plant Manager Mr. Dany Winkler, the O&M company operating the plant and Ms. Dorit Yaron and Ms. Faina Bortnick for their continuous support and supply of plant operational data.

Notes

Presented at the International Conference on Desalination for the Environment, Clean Water and Energy, European Desalination Society, 23–26 April 2012, Barcelona, Spain