Reuse of condensate water in power plants
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Power plants generate large amounts of condensate water, which needs to be reused in the boilers. However, this condensate water must be treated first. What methods are used to treat the condensate water in power plants?
In general, when recovering steam condensate, it is necessary to monitor the water quality; recovery takes place only if the quality meets the required standards. If the quality does not meet these standards, the water is used at a reduced capacity or is utilized as feedwater for boiler feedwater treatment.
Common treatment methods for reusing condensate water in boilers: pretreatment (filtration) → water desalination → boiler. The processes are more or less the same; it depends on the water quality, as design changes can be significant depending on the type of water. The reuse of this water mainly depends on the design.
The key point is that if desalination is carried out after filtering the boiler water, cooling is required. However, cooling not only consumes energy and results in the waste of a large amount of heat, but from a cost perspective, it is also less advantageous than using the raw water directly.
So I would like to ask, how much silicon and iron is usually present in condensed water, and what treatments are generally applied to it before it is reused in power plants?
Plate heat exchanger (cooling) – Iron removal filter (sometimes with activated carbon filter) – Strong acid cation exchange resin bed – Condensate mixed-bed reactor – Secondary desalination water tank – External supply