Water Management in Power Stations

Abstract

Society realizes and recognizes the decrease in quality and quantity of water resources as a growing problem. This trend forces the utilities — by far the largest consumers of water — to manage the water streams in a power plant in a way that is economical and safe for the environment.

For existing power plants, there is increasing incentive to use less water, for example by recycling (“zero discharge”). As a first step, we give a full inventory of mass balances in the diverse water subsystems. The aim is to convert the numerous waste waters into clean water and compact products for easy disposal.

As an example, a systematic recording of the water streams in a power plant is shown. The areas for potential improvement are identified and possible corrective measures are presented.

Each year, about 100,000 tons of chlorine are applied world-wide to prevent biofouling in the condenser cooling water system. Chlorine forms non-degradable and toxic chlorinated organic compounds. This has led to regulatory restrictions on chlorine emissions. The application of ozone as a substitute for chlorination is a viable solution to this problem. Results of ozonation experiments using a pilot plant in a system with a cooling tower are presented. The effect of ozone on chemical and biological parameters and the corrosion characteristics of various materials were studied on-site.