Ultrapure Boiler Water Production From Municipal Wastewater

By Michael Sheedy, Vice President of Technology and George Di Falco, Marketing Communications, Eco-Tec Inc.

The term wastewater can be applied to a wide range of water sources from municipal sewage to storm runoff to industrial discharge water. Since the water characteristics can have great variability, the equipment to treat wastewater must be robust and forgiving.

The challenges, however, become even more magnified when these wastewaters are used to produce ultra high-purity boiler feed water.

Servicios Termoelectrica de Mexicali (STDM), a combined cycle gas fired power plant in Mexico, was supplied a water treatment system, fed with municipal wastewaters, for the production of high purity boiler feed make up water. After nearly six years of operation, the new water treatment system continues to exceed the quality and capacity requirements of the plant.

Designed by Eco-Tec Inc., this fully automatic water treatment system consists of micro media filtration, reverse osmosis (RO) and a short bed ion exchange (IX) demineralizer/polisher, and requires minimal operator attention and maintenance.