Farayandno

Farayandno

Technical-economic justification of replacing clarifier processes with chemical injections to improve cooling tower performance in a selected thermal power plant

Document Type : Applied Science

Authors
Maryam Chinisaz 1
Majid Soleimani 1
Mohsen Esmaeilpour 2
Majid Ghahraman Afshar 2
1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, International Imam Khomeini University, Qazvin, Iran
2 Chemistry and Process Research Department, Niroo Research Institute (NRI), Tehran, Iran
10.22034/farayandno.2025.2068814.2010
Abstract
In this study, a thermal power plant is studied from the point of view of performance and costs of clarifier-related processes on the corrosion and fouling rate of the condenser. This power plant has four cooling towers that are responsible for cooling the condensate water returned from the condenser. Examination of the results of raw water and soft water after the clarifier (injection of FeCl3 and CaOH) in recent years shows that the alkalinity and hardness levels before and after the clarifier have not decreased significantly. In the current situation, chemical control with the previous chemical regime leads to an increase in the corrosion and sedimentation rate due to the increase in the conductivity of the clarifier supply water. To tackle this issue, a new chemical regime based on the elimination of clarifier processes and the use of corrosion and sedimentation inhibitor compounds are proposed here. In order to investigate the effect of the new chemical regime on the condenser performance, investigation is conducted through coupon monitoring and chemical factor monitoring. The results of the condenser coupon monitoring indicate that the condenser corrosion rate is reduced by six times by applying the new chemical regime. Moreover, the rate of destruction of the wooden structure of the cooling tower in the control unit is 1.5 times higher than in the test unit. On the other hand, based on coupon monitoring results, the rate of sedimentation in the control tower is 1.7 times higher than that of the test cooling tower. Overall results indicate that the corrosion and sedimentation rates are much more effective with the elimination of clarifier processes and the application of the new chemical regime than with the previous regime. Therefore, it is recommended to eleminate the clarifier processes and use antiscalant and anti-corrosion for other thermal power plants whose supply water has been facing a decline in quality and increased conductivity in recent years.
Keywords
Thermal power plant
clarifier
anti-corrosion
antiscalant
technical-economic justification

Subjects

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