Effluent Recycling, Reuse and Zero liquid discharge systems

Major consumers of water in power station

2000 1500

1000
500 0

Continued..
Cooling tower make up : 1725 m3/h Ash disposal : 650* m3/h DM water make up : 60 m3/h Potable & service water : 125 m3/h Clarifier sludge etc. : 55 m3/h Coal dust suppression : 35 m3/h

Total : 2000 m3/h for a typical 500MW Power Plant

Sources of effluents
Clarifier sludge Filter back wash CT blow down Regeneration waste of DM plant & CPU Boiler blow down

Factors influencing wastewater reuse

Quality, quantity and cost of raw water available Quality and quantity of water needed for various processes; Possibility of recycling wastewater streams to other processes, either directly or after suitable treatment; Wastewater treatment technologies available; capital, operational, maintenance and labour costs and space requirements; Environmental restrictions on the quantity and quality of any wastewater that may be discharged

Opportunities for Water Reuse

Ash handling system - Wet slurry disposal system - Recirculating ash pond water - High Concentration Slurry Disposal(HCSD) - Using CT blowdown for makeup

Opportunities for Water Reuse

Ash handling system As per MOE&Fs notification dated 3.11.2009, all new coal based power stations are required to progressively achieve 100% utilization of fly ash by fourth year from date of commissioning of the project

Opportunities for Water Reuse

Cooling water system - Cycles of concentration - Makeup water addition - Using Boiler blowdown water for makeup
Cycles of concentration 3 5 Make up water requirement 2.5% of CW flow 2.1% of CW flow

Opportunities for Water Reuse

Clarifier system wastes - Initially clarifier sludges were disposed off - Recover water from sludge using treatment - Recycle it back to clarifier inlet along with wash water from filters of DM plant

Centralised Monitoring Basin

Storage vessel having influents from Unused CT blowdown Boiler Blowdown Treated plant drains and filter backwash

Zero liquid discharge system

Zero liquid discharge

By definition, reduced or zero liquid discharge (ZLD) processes treat significant volumes of low quality wastewater, such that the waste stream is greatly reduced, or eliminated, and the bulk of the wastewater becomes reusable Minimise site water usage and maximise water recycling

Components of ZLD system

Processes that have been used for ZLD systems and cooling tower blowdown treatment, individually or in combination, include the following: Evaporation basins; Brine concentrators; Crystallisers; Membrane processes

Brine concentrators
Capable of recovering greater than 95% of a wastewater flow as high purity distillate (< 10ppm TDS) The distillate is generally reused as either cooling tower make up or as feedwater for demineralisation plant The concentrated brine slurry produced (> 150,000ppm TDS) can be reduced to dry solids in a crystalliser or spray drier, or sent to an evaporation pond.

Brine concentrator How does it work??

Brine concentrator How does it work??

As the brine falls back down the tubes into the sump due to gravity, a small portion is evaporated and drawn through mist eliminators to a compressor. The compressed vapour then flows over the outer tube surfaces, where heat is transferred to the cooler brine within the tubes. This causes a small amount of internally circulating brine to evaporate and condenses the external vapour as distilled water. The distillate is pumped back through a heat exchanger to pre-heat the incoming wastewater.

Brine concentrators - Disadvantages

High Capital cost: Use of titanium or stainless steel alloys for heat exchanger surfaces to tolerate the extremely corrosive conditions experienced when treating saline wastewaters. High operating cost: Large power consumption, typically between 80 to 100kWh per 1000 USgallons of wastewater treated To minimise the size of brine concentrator required, reverse osmosis is used frequently for wastewater volume reduction beforehand

Need for Crystallizers

For most wastewaters containing 1% to 5% TDS by weight, it is relatively easy to remove75% to 95% of water by falling film evaporator As water is evaporated from a solution, the concentration and ionic strength of soluble salts increase, as does the boiling point of the solution This increase in boiling point is causing difficulties in evaporation and needs further processing

Steam-driven crystallizer

Steam-driven crystallizer
Slurry from the evaporator (waste brine) is pumped to the crystallizer shell and tube heat exchanger (heater) The tubes are flooded, the slurry is under pressure and will not boil After it is heated, the slurry enters the crystallizer vapor body at an angle, where it swirls in a vortex As water is evaporated from the brine, crystals form. Most of the brine is recirculated back to the heater A small stream from the recirculating brine is sent to a centrifuge or filter to separate the remaining water from the crystals.

Steam-driven crystallizer - Disadvantages

The use of steam for heating simplifies the design, but does result in significant steam and cooling water requirement Vapor recompression crystallisers eliminate steam and cooling water requirements, but add electrical demand and are very susceptible to operational upsets, such as foaming. Crystallisers require highly alloyed materials, which again incurs a high capital cost.

Crystallizer with Vapor compressor

Spray dryers
Spray driers are alternatives to crystallisers for reducing concentrated brine solutions to solids for disposal. The spray drier consists of an atomising wheel spinning at approximately 17,000rpm that sprays the brine slurry into a hot, gas-filled chamber Water instantly evaporates from the brine droplets and the solids are drawn into bag filters.

Spray dryers

Reverse Osmosis Principle

RO Membrane Cutaway view

Reverse Osmosis - Advantages

Least costly method of wastewater volume reduction It can be used to concentrate wastewaters containing high levels of dissolved salts, silica and organic matter. The purified permeate water is of suitable quality for reuse in most plant areas. The concentrated reject stream is either processed further, for example in a brine concentrator and/or crystalliser, or reused in low quality water applications Clarifier, Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration are the pretreatment process before RO

High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis(HERO)

Need for HERO: Membrane fouling due to silica solubility Increasing pH to take advantage of higher silica solubility Advantages: Greater rejection of weakly ionised species Higher permeate recovery rates ( 90%) Prevention of biological fouling.

ZLD Cycle