The experimental water de-salting plant built on the basis of the inventions of Alexander Zarchin was put into full operation this week, the Ministry of Development announced formally today.
Previously, units of the plant had been tested separately to iron out the usual initial bugs, the Ministry reported. It added that the experimental plant will require several months of operation before sufficient reliable data are accumulated as the basis for the first large scale desalination plant.
Such a plant would produce about 1, 000 cubic meters of de-salted water a day. The pilot plant is expected to provide enough data to make possible fairly accurate calculations of the costs of such water when it is produced on a large scale.
Engineers of the American Fairbank-Whitley Company, which signed an agreement for the development and use of Zarchin’s inventions, cooperated in putting the experimental plant into initial operation. They will also take part in the evaluation of data and drafting of plans for the first large-scale plant. The Ministry said all basic parts of the plant were made in Israel.
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