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Helping India Power Ahead
India is building power plants at an incredible rate to keep pace with
extreme demand for electricity. As the largest industrial user of water, such facilities need to implement modern technologies to keep water loss to a minimum. Govindan Alagappan, homas !ayer and Paresh "ora discuss water treatment technologies being used in the Indian power market. India has the second largest population in the world. It is expected to surpass China this decade but it remains only the sixth largest energy consumer, accounting for 3.4% of global energy consumption. India requires electric power to close the demand supply gap caused by the growth rate of the economy. This means it is among the top countries building power plants today. The single largest industrial user of water in India is power plants, and these plants consume roughly !% of the water used by all the industries put together. "#ailability of water for power plant use is one of the $ey factors considered when choosing a location and securing commercial appro#al of new power plants. %ecause sustainability has become such an important topic, the Central &ollution Control %oard 'C&C%( in India is turning its focus towards efficient and effecti#e use of water in power plants. #ater treatment technology in power plants "mong the critical areas for water treatment and use in power plants are inta$e screening, the steam turbines cycle 'boiler feed ) condensate treatment( and the cooling water system. Inta$e screens wor$ as a barrier at the inta$e structure to the seawater being used by the power plant, and also protect the inta$e structure, pumps and pipes from unwanted material. *ailure of these screens may lead to reduced cooling water flows and damage to equipment. *eedwater is added to the steam boiler to replace e#aporation and blowdown. The Fullsep technology from Siemens aims to separate resins, with minimum cross-contamination levels of the anion and cation resin. The aim is to ensure consistent water quality. In many cases, condensed steam returned to the boiler through the condensate system pro#ides much of the feedwater. %efore use, this condensate must be purified or +polished+ to remo#e impurities that could damage the boilers, steam generators, reactors and turbines. %oth dissol#ed 'such as silica oxides( and suspended matter 'such as iron oxide particulate(, as well as other contaminants that can cause corrosion and maintenance issues, are effecti#ely remo#ed by condensate polishing equipment. Cooling towers cool the recirculating water in a system through the e#aporation of the water. ,#aporation concentrates the dissol#ed and suspended solids in the cooling water, leading to the potential for scaling and solids buildup in the cooling tower and cooling circuit. To a#oid these problems, the ma$e-up water to the cooling tower must be treated and a small amount continuously purged to pre#ent scaling and solids build-up in the cooling tower. Cooling tower ma$e-up water is treated to remo#e hardness, silica, suspended solids, and in some cases, organics. Intake $creening echnologies .ater screens for power plants need to sur#i#e the extremely corrosi#e en#ironment and it is important for power producers to consider the screen/s design. Tra#eling water screens ta$e many forms, from simple to more sophisticated automated screens that ha#e self cleaning features. 0ome are designed as coarse screens for remo#ing large floating debris li$e stic$s, trash and plastic1 fine screens are able to remo#e finer suspended materials. 0ome are configured to safely pre#ent fish from entering water inta$e systems. !oiler %eedwater reatment echnologies &ower plants use deioni2ed water as ma$e-up to high pressure boilers, for producing steam to dri#e turbines and generate electricity. The quality of the boiler feedwater depends on the boiler type and pressure. "ny hardness contaminants can precipitate directly on the boiler and form scale, which affects the performance. The con#entional means of purifying boiler feed water has been to use clarification and filtration processes to treat the raw water for remo#al of physical impurities, and chemically regenerated ion- exchange deioni2ation for the remo#al of dissol#ed ions. 3#er the past decade, the global power industry has witnessed a technology shift in the entire boiler feed water treatment. 4ltrafiltration '4*( membranes are used as a physical and #erifiable barrier to remo#e suspended solids, which protects and extends the life of the downstream equipment and also accounts for the seasonal changes and #ariations in source water. 0econdly, re#erse osmosis '53( is used as a roughing deminerali2er to remo#e the bul$ of the mineral, organic and particulate contaminants and reduce the chemical consumption of the polishing ion exchangers. Impro#ements in electrodeioni2ation technology ha#e caused a mo#ement towards chemical- free deioni2ation systems. &ondensate Polishing echnology Condensate polishing treatment is a $ey technology required for the recycling of the condensed water within the steam turbine loop. "fter dri#ing the turbines, the steam flows to condensers. The condensed water pic$s up some corrossi#e products during the passage through feed water pumps, piping, steam turbine loop 'including boiler( and the condenser. These impurities can affect the boiler and also impact the life of the turbine. Condensate polishers sa#e power utilities money through a reduction in facility start-up times, thereby sa#ing fuel and direct labor and minimising blowdown. This polishing can be accomplished with a mixed bed ion exchange system that uses both cation and anion bead resins. Certain deep-bed condensate polishers use strong-acid and strong-base resins to produce a #ery high quality deminerali2ed water. They are typically used in applications where the feedwater contains low le#els of Total 6issol#ed 0olids 'T60( and where the power plant may ha#e minor condenser lea$s. 0uch systems in#ol#e se#eral #essels operating in parallel. .hen the mixed- bed resin capacity is depleted, the +spent+ resin is transferred to an external system for separation, bac$washing and regeneration. The external regeneration process a#oids cross contamination of resins with the regenerant chemicals, and therefore pre#ents them from accidentally entering into the boiler. The $ey to the success of the condensate polishing unit 'C&4( is the separation of the cation and anion resins before regeneration. .hen a leading 7orean contractor wanted deminerali2ation equipment and a condensate polishing system for a pro8ect in 0audi "rabia, 0iemens supplied three mixed-bed deminerali2er systems and four high-pressure spherical condensate polishers with the *ullsep external regeneration system. The mixed-bed systems will be used to polish desalinated water from the 5ed 0ea to boiler feedwater quality. The condensate polishers will remo#e impurities such as metal oxides, trace ionic contaminants and silica from the condensate cycle to maximi2e water use, bring the power unit online faster, reduce operating and maintenance costs for generation assets, and impro#e and maintain boiler chemistry. The micro and macro fouling in the cooling water circuit affects the heat transfer efficiency in the power plant condenser tubes, which in turn affect the o#erall power plant efficiency. This fouling is a#oided using chlorination of the cooling water, which can be accomplished by using electrochlorination technology. 9o#ing forward, with India as one of the top countries building power plants, it will need dependable and sustainable water treatment technologies with low lifecycle costs now, and in the future. Author's note( &aresh :ora is based at 0iemens .ater Technologies in India, ;o#indan "lagappan is regional sales manager for process water solutions at 0iemens .ater Technologies and Thomas %ayer is sales director for Chloropac 0ystems at 0iemens .ater Technologies, based in <ew =ersey, 4.0.". They can be contacted at> go#indan.alagappan?siemens.com, paresh.#ora?siemens.com and tom.bayer?siemens.com.