Water treatment: Water is very important part in any plant.

But normal water causes corrosion to many equipments and suspended solids of water block pipelines. As a result water should be treated to produce deminaralized water before using in the plant. Water source of Eastern Refinery Deep tube well Chittagong WASA Chittagong WASA supplies river water only removing suspended solids. Each of three deep tube wells (two are always running & one remains standby) has capacity of 100 m3 /h. As demi water is process water it has to have pH of 7 and TDS approximately 80. Though WASA water is primarily treated it is further treated to be deminaralized. Open water (after primary treatment) & ground water is brought to the sweet water basin for sedimentation. Here Alum [Al2(SO4)3.24H2O] & Sodium Hypochlorite [NaOCl] is added and kept about 24-48 hours. Alum helps to coagulate the suspended solid which settles at bottom, while Sodium Hypochlorite gets the dissolved solids like CaCO3 , MgCO3 etc out and suspends any form of biological activities (e.g. algae growth). Next water is sent to sand filters. The filter includes given layer from the top Active carbon layer Anthracite layer Sand and gravel Activated carbon also known as activated Charcoal is a form of carbon which is extremely porous and thus have a very large surface area available for adsorption or chemical reaction. It removes dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by adsorption. It can also capture gaseous ammonia. However it does not bind very well to many materials including alcohols, glycols, strong acids and bases, metals (Na, Fe, Pb, arsenic ) and inorganic materials ( fluorine , boric acid).

Crushed anthracite makes an excellent medium density filtration media. Because of its fractured shape some sediment penetrates deeper into the bed. When compared to equivalent filter sands, this means longer filter runs and less head loss. pH is very important parameter for demi water and it is maintained by using cation and anion bed. These beds consist of resins bonded with H+ ions in cation bed and OH- ions in anion bed. After filtration water is passed through cation bed which brings pH level down to about 3.2 - 3.5. Typical salts to removed are CaCl2 , MgCl2 etc. General reaction XCl2 + R-H+ X- R + HCl (X- R precipitation)

Where X = Ca, Mg etc R = resin (Amberite - 120) Water also contains several dissolved gases like CO, CO2, H2S and NH3 which are removed next in a degasifier. The water falls from the top in the form of a fine spray while a blower sends air flowing in the opposite direction (upwards) and removes the dissolved gases. Finally water is sent to anion bed whose working principle is pretty much same to that of cation bed save for the bonded ion. Water comes out of the anion bed with a pH level 7 7.5 and this water is stored in demi water tank. When this demiwater is fed to boiler phosphate, hydrazine, sulphite etc are added to it to remove O because some dissolved O still remains and is corrosive for boiler.

Major components like lifting pumps, filters, anion, and cation beds always run with a duplicate component on standby for any sudden urgency. Pipe lines are found to be used butterfly valves for the control of flow direction while pneumatic valves at 6 bars for level control. Adequate pressure level indication is provided at different key points t watch over the whole process. For example if pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the sand filter is greater than one bar it is the most probable sign of solid material deposition, which necessitates back wash.

Cation and anion regeneration: As the ion bonded with resin depletes with time, it is necessary to regenerate them after a certain level has been reached. Cation regeneration is done using sulfuric acid (37 solution). Here 98 H2SO4 is added in the acid solution container (1.873 m3) in drops while water is added continuously with the agitator motor running. It takes 6 hour to get it done. Next acid solution is brought up on Cation bed from the reservoir with the help of an ejector. The ejector is much like a convergent-divergent nozzle with an inlet for acid solution placed just about the throat. Demi water at 40 m3 / h is passed through the ejector which pulls the acid solution through. The solution is then falls freely from the top of the Cation bed through the resin pellets. The process takes round about 80 minutes. While making the acid solution produces a lot of heat and is bit difficult to handle. So, caution is practiced while working with it. The acid reservoir is made of mild steel with plastic lining inside. For further mixing a recycle tank is provided to get the resin well drenched in acid solution. The tank is made of fiber and contains same acid solution. But rather than just letting the solution to fall through, it cycles the solution back and provides a better mixing. The process takes about 80 minutes. Finally the resins are cleaned off any residuals that might remain using a stream of demi water, it is known as rinsing. Anion is regenerated with 45 NaOH. The process is same as that of cations. However here NaOH flows down from the chamber placed on top to a tank fitted with auto level control valve. From here the solution is carried away by ejector and the similar process is carried out. Waste water of ERL is not treated in this pant. ERL drains waste water of plants in their won underground tank.