Implementing Electrolyte Simulation in a Water Treatment

Process Simulator

Given by Krystal Perez

OLI Simulation Conference 2014
October 22, 2014

Copyright [insert date set by system] by [CH2M HILL entity] • Company Confidential
Project Overview

 100 MW Coal Fired Power Plant, located in Midwest

 Project Drivers
– Concern with ability of 200 gpm boiler feedwater treatment system
to meet design feed flows
– WTP is operationally intensive (many cleanings required)
– Scaling observed during commissioning, manganese and
phosphorus identified as issue
– Concerns for cycle up of contaminants. The waste streams from the
power plant are sent to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW),
which sends secondary treated wastewater as the supply for the
WTP for boiler feed water.
– Project needed complex water chemistry analyses as well as
ability to account for the recycles within the plant and with the
POTW (water source & wastewater discharge location)

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Project Goals

 Develop a plant water balance using a dynamic simulation

model to troubleshoot WTP from an equipment and
performance perspective.
 Evaluate scenarios for new water sources or changing water
quality and their effects on WTP performance and ability to meet
wastewater discharge permit limits.
 Evaluate scaling potential throughout the water balance at the
power plant.
 Provide recommendations for changes to water source or
modifications to WTP operation.

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Dynamic Modeling with SourceTM

 SOURCETM is CH2M HILL’s proprietary dynamic water treatment plant

simulator that uses water quality as a measure of performance of
processes throughout the entire facility.
 The water quality parameters that are modeled throughout the process
allow for analysis/optimization of new designs and existing facilities
 Focus on physical/chemical treatment

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Dynamic Modeling with SourceTM

 Source™ model is built in the ExtendSIM® model platform

 The ExtendSIM® platform is object-oriented and designed to run
time-series calculations
 CH2M HILL has taken the ExtendSIM® platform and created
proprietary libraries of intelligent objects (i.e. blocks) designed to
simulate a unit process. The blocks are arranged to simulate a
particular system.
 Blocks in this project model included cooling tower, clarifier,
microfilter, RO cartridge filter, reverse osmosis,
electrodeionization, and ion exchange blocks.
 Some blocks were created new for this work (cooling tower,
heat exchanger, EDI and IX)
 The model is organized to appear like a process flow diagram
(PFD), aiding in communication and understanding of the
complete process
Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL
Why does CH2M HILL use SourceTM?

 Need for customizable, dynamic simulator for water and

wastewater treatment
 Client was familiar with GoldSim, but requested that it not be
used due to chemistry shortcomings
 Source already had many of the necessary unit operation blocks
customized for wastewater treatment
 Source model designed to look like PFD
 HYSYS, Aspen Plus would have required additional work to
customize for wastewater process
 Other software like BioWin, GPS-X, and WEST have chemical
species limitations & cannot produce a system-wide mass
balance

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Pairing SourceTM with OLI Engine Developer Edition

 SOURCE model benefits/limitations

– Ability to track performance dynamically over time
– PFD interface
– Ability to predict unit process treatment performance
– Calculate effects of recycle streams
– Can turn over a run time version of the model so the client would have a
tool (would require client to license OLI software)
– Limited application for water chemistry calculations as they apply to a power
plant or industrial waters
 OLI Stream Analyzer model benefits/limitations
– Ability to calculate complex chemistry stabilities, balances, and mixtures
– Difficult to calculate iterative solutions, like with recycle streams, in a
treatment facility
– Difficult to perform calculations for many water quality scenarios quickly
 Client need satisfied by pairing Source with OLI Engine Developer Ed

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

 Source PFD – Upstream Processes

OLI Engine call

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Source PFD – Downstream Processes

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Simulation Scenarios

Operating Scenario Descriptions and Flows

Cooling
Tower Boiler Feed
Makeup Water Supply Total
Scenario Description (gpm) (gpm) (gpm)
1: Average cooling tower makeup rate 400 290 690
and design boiler feed water
2: Worst case wastewater generation 1,234 290 1,534
(Max Day cooling tower demand, and
design boiler feed water flow)

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Chemistry/ Scaling Analysis

 Historical Scaling Information:

– Iron and Manganese: High concentrations found in RO cartridge filter
scale
– Calcium phosphate: Found in heat exchanger scale
– Organics: Feedwater from POTW contains TOC, nitrogen,
phosphorous supporting biological growth
– Aluminum: Soluble aluminum possible contributor
– Silica: Typical foulant
– Cooling Water: Concentrating of constituents in cooling tower loop

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Chemistry/ Scaling Analysis

Summary of Cooling Tower Loop Scaling Potential Analysis

Compounds Raw Cooling Tower Cooling Tower HEX
Water Blowdown Loop 4X
(20 deg C) (39.7 deg C)
Ca3(PO4)2 6 315 3,278
(mg/L)
FePO4.2H2O 303 4,766 658
(mg/L)
Al(OH)3 412 312 274
(mg/L)

Calcium phosphate selected as indicator for a more detailed scaling evaluation

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Chemistry/ Scaling Analysis
Summary of Scaling Potential Analysis Under Various Operating Conditions
PO4 Limit for (Ca3PO4)2
Condition Temp, °C Scaling, mg/L
Raw WW 19.4 3.5
Raw WW to 35 °C 35 1.5
RO Concentrate (65% recovery) 20 3.5
RO Concentrate (65% recovery), pH 6.4 20 1.5 (FePO4 scale),
4.5 (Ca3(PO4)2 scale)
CT 1.5 X cycle, 25 °C 25 7.5
CT 1.5 X cycle, 35 °C 35 4.5
CT 2 X cycle, 25 °C 25 4.5
CT 2 X cycle, 35 °C 35 2.5
CT 3 X cycle, 25 °C 25 2.5
CT 3 X cycle, 35 °C 35 1.5
CT 4 X cycle, 25 °C 25 2.5
CT 4 X cycle, 35 °C 35 1.5
 Raw WW phosphate concentrations were ~66 mg/L as a result of the discharge
of potato processing wastewater from potato processing farms
 Results used to develop treatment recommendations
Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL
Project Recommendations / Outcomes

 Scaling control for water treatment system

– Bench/pilot testing to investigate phosphorous scaling can be
managed with pH reduction and dispersant
– Bench/pilot testing to optimize manganese removal
– Phosphorous removal with iron addition and clarification if scaling
can’t be controlled
 Scaling control for cooling towers
– Manage scaling by providing equipment redundancy and downtime
for cleaning
– Phosphorous removal same as above
 Team now has an analysis tool, which will be used to further
investigate cycle-up scenarios, variable raw water qualities, and
treatment improvements.

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Latest Source + OLI Engine Development

 Evaluating other applications to add efficiency and client value

by pairing Source & OLI Engine
 Valuable where:
– “Cycle up” scenarios are of key interest
– Customizable unit operation blocks are desired
– Process must be analyzed over time
– Water balance is complex (with interconnectivity and recycle loops)
– There is a desire to have all flows and water qualities in a central
model
 Currently developing linked Source/OLI Engine tool for
evaporation/crystallization applications

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Latest Source + OLI Engine Development

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Lessons Learned

 Increasing the number of OLI “calls” will slow down modeling

 OLI callable engine originally truncated the solids formed at 200
species; CH2M HILL teaming with OLI addressed this issue
 User needs to consider what species are most important for the
chemistry analysis
– Ran OLI callable engine “speed tests”
– Each ion leads to many potential species in the chemistry solution space
– Time savings by reducing the number of raw water ions from 25 (solution
space of 590 species) down to 20 (solution space of 460 species) was 9
minute run time to 4.5 minute run time
 Partner with OLI for development success
 Worked together to identify and address software issues, both with
Source and the OLI Engine Developer Edition

Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL

Lessons Learned

 When creating a new simulation, start simple and QC using OLI

Analyzer
 Understand differences between OLI Analyzer and OLI Engine model,
such as:
– Stream densities (important for high strength solutions)
– Example: Displaced water
• Water Analysis reconcile object sets the total liquid volume to 1L
• Callable Engine calculates total volume including solids and water is
displaced when solids are formed
• This means that QC results between Analyzer and Callable Engine do not
match when solids are formed
 Small differences in dilute flow composition, if not resolved at the
outset of the simulation, can lead to quite significant differences when
constituents are concentrated into residual sludges and/or brines
 Simulations use large amounts of flow and water quality data – making
this process challenging but also very informational!
Copyright 2014 by CH2M HILL
 Discussion

Thank you!
Krystal Perez (krystal.perez@ch2m.com)