One-stop shop : Modules for sea water desalination
In the practice of desalination , control valves are used to assist in the process of reverse osmosis . In Israel ’ s quest to supply the country with enough clean water , Butting has stepped in to provide Israel ’ s latest desalination project with their products .
By Alexandra Kist , Valve World
The drinking water supply has been a major challenge for Israel for years . The country ’ s natural water resources are scarce – water consumption is increasing . With the help of five large seawater desalination plants , Israel wants to counteract this trend in the future . For the construction of the latest plant south of Tel Aviv , Butting is supplying entire modules and connecting pipelines as a one-stop shop .
Prefabricated solutions
A total of 192 modules are manufactured in Butting ’ s factory in Tieling , which are then delivered to Israel and assembled . The piping components ( ranging from ∞ ” to 24 ”) were nearly five kilometres long and weighed 200 metric tons . The 2800 stainless steel fittings weighed close to 100 metric tons and were mainly made of superduplex . All of these were 100 percent prefabricated in Tieling , Germany . They were then non-destructively tested and mounted in the base frames in carbon-manganese steel . 3500 high-pressure filters had to be installed , aligned and inserted , and a good 900 control valves , flow meters , etc . had to be installed and wired to the more than 390 control cabinets . Butting aims to provide customers with a complete solution by assembling not only the piping components in the base frame , but also all the equipment provided , such as valves , vessels , pumps , apparatus , other components , fittings , expansion joints and electrical field devices , etc . The modules are used as a central component in the desalination and treatment process of the plant and have to withstand heavy stresses very reliably in an extremely corrosive environment . At the customer ’ s request , an elaborate three-coat paint finish was therefore applied to all modules . Furthermore , high demands with regards to dimensional accuracy are to be met to ensure that the materials arrive on site ready for installation , with an absolutely precise fit .
Advantages
Jens Ellermann , Managing Director of Butting in China , reports that “ the advantages of Butting prefabrication pay off here : more than 95 percent of the welding seams are produced in-house by Butting . This shop welding and the pickling of whole components ensure the required seam and surface quality . In addition , non-destructive tests are already carried out on Butting ’ s premises . This means that pressure tests , dye-penetrant tests and X-ray testing are not required on the construction site . The result is higher quality and shorter throughput times for the benefit of our customer .” The modules and pipelines are called off depending on the construction progress .
Future plans
Commissioning of the plant is planned for 2023 . Then it will get noisy in the new halls on the industrial site near the Mediterranean coast south of Tel Aviv . Large pumps will pump salt water at high pressure from the Mediterranean Sea through 5 kilometres of pipelines at a depth of 21 metres into dozens of basins . Each pressure vessel is equipped with membranes that filter out salt and minerals to produce drinking water . The physical process is called reverse osmosis . Every year , 200 million m 3 of seawater are to be treated in this way to become drinking water .
Israel ’ s thirst for water
Israel experiences inconsistent precipitation , which means that the amount of rainfall differs per year . The country sees a constant growth in the population and the standard of living . As a result , the various sectors bring a continuous rise in demand for water . The country currently has constructed five desalination plants over the years , located in Ashkelon ( 2005 ), Palmachim ( 2007 ), Hadera ( 2009 ), Sorek ( 2013 ) and Ashdod ( 2015 ), with total production capabilities of some 585 million m 3 . A second Sorek desalination plant , south of Tel-Aviv , is scheduled to be completed in 2023 , and The Western Galilee water desalination plant is set to be established in 2025 .
Source : gov . il
14 Valve World November 2022 www . valve-world . net