Problem
At a start-up commissioning situation at a power plant in Wyoming, the water balance was out of sync with the assets available to handle it. Therefore, the water level was threatening to breach the pond at this zero liquid discharge site. The water that was to be used when in normal operation for the flue gas scrubbers was collecting in a finite-sized pond and was growing in depth quickly. The pond was made for operating, not commissioning.
If the plant had elected to haul the water via tankers to an approved discharge facility, it would have eventually delayed the commissioning of the project, which would have been cost prohibitive.
Solution
The ideal solution was MPW Industrial Water’s reverse osmosis [RO] technology coupled with media filtration for pretreatment of the wastewater.
High-conductivity wastewater can be difficult to treat with RO, but it can still be the most efficient process, especially in a temporary situation.
Results
MPW’s Applications, Sales and Field Service crews ensured the commissioning was not lengthened due to any water issues.
MPW purified over 7.5 million gallons of water during this project, which lasted nearly two months. Approximately 5 million gallons were reclaimed and further processed to create boiler makeup water.
The pond that started out at 6,000 µS/cm increased to 11,000 µS/cm due the need to return the concentrate stream of greater than 20,000 µS/cm, and therefore cycle up the pond.