Intel, Numonyx open $20M water treatment plant in Israel

Water used in semiconductor production by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Switzerland's Numonyx can now be reused for agriculture in Israel.

The neighboring semiconductor makers today opened a NIS 80 million ($20 million USD) membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment facility in Kiryat Gat. The plant is the largest in Israel and represents Intel's first full-scale water treatment facility.

Chipmaker Intel is a partner in Numonyx, which specializes in flash memory.

The plant is expected to treat 6,300 cubic meters (1.7 million U.S. gallons) a day. The government oversees the plant's connection to the water system.

The 2.4-dunam (2,400 square meter) facility took about 18 months to construct. The system is hooked up to a pump that is supervised by the municipality.

Intel has made a significant push in cleantech this year.

Intel Israel plans to spend $80 million to construct its next building in Haifa using green building techniques such as natural lighting. The office is expected to open at the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel, has made several recent investments in China's cleantech sector, including $20 million in Shenzen's Trony Solar Holdings and an undisclosed amount in Beijing-based NP Holdings (see Intel puts more cash into cleantech). In April, Intel Capital established its second China Technology Fund, a $500 million fund dedicated to Chinese technology startups, including environmentally friendly technologies.

In June, Intel announced that it would spin off its solar assets to form an independent photovoltaic cell maker called SpectraWatt, with Intel Capital leading a $50 million investment round in the new solar company (see Intel Inside solar cells: mixed bag?).

And in July, Intel Capital led an €84 million round of financing for Berlin-based thin-film developer Sulfurcell (see Thin film pulls in a crowd).

Intel Capital has also invested $12.5 million in Branchburg, N.J.-based Voltaix, which makes materials for semiconductor and solar cell manufacturing, and an undisclosed amount in San Francisco's Grid Net, a smart grid software company.

Cleantech developments making news in the past 24 hours

• New year money goes to biofuels
• VeruTEK completes new green chemistry remediation project
• Indian company lets drivers opt-in for electric battery

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