Ultrapure Water Reprint

TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING
MICROFILTRATION FOR MAKEUP WATER PRETREATMENT: A

DEVELOPING TECHNIQUE FOR THE POWER INDUSTRY
P
retreatment to remove sus- tions periodically caused excursions in clar- portion at least must flow along the surface
pended solids from raw ifier performance, such that effluent turbid- to carry away the suspended solids. This
makeup water is a require- ities might exceed 1.0 NTU. In these cases, stream is known as the reject.
ment for the potable water we would see quick fouling of RO pre-filters The membranes in the unit we tested are
industry, but it is also a crit- and an increase in RO membrane differential configured such that the raw water flows
ical application in many pro- pressures. The Unit 1 clarifier was particu- from outside to in, with the reject flowing
cess industries, including larly troublesome in this regard. along the outside surface of the fibers. The
steam-generating electric utilities. In the In autumn 2004, based on reliable infor- basic water flow path is outlined in Figure 2.
1980s and 1990s, reverse osmosis (RO) ex- mation from colleagues within the power Raw water enters tank T-1 for feed to the
ploded in popularity as a retrofit technique industry, we tested a Pall Aria 4 microfil- membranes. A level control gauge in the
ahead of existing deionizers at power sta- ter (MF) in the Unit 1 makeup water system tank modifies inlet valve operation such that
tions. Reverse osmosis membranes, whose to ascertain if it would produce cleaner water the tank maintains a constant level. Pump P-
pore sizes are only angstroms in diameter, for RO feed, and how in turn this would 1 (rated at 20 HP) moves the raw water to the
will remove most dissolved ions from water, affect downstream equipment. Whereas most membranes. This pump is controlled by a
thus greatly reducing the load on down- RO systems, for power plant applications at variable frequency drive (VFD) to adjust the
stream ion exchange units. least, use spiral-wound membranes, the MF output based on the flowrate requested by the
At Kansas City Power & Light Companys at La Cygne is of hollow-fiber configuration, operator. The feed to the membranes passes
La Cygne generating station, an RO system in which each module contains thousands of through a basket strainer to remove any large
was placed in the Unit 1 (820 megawatts spaghetti-sized hollow fiber tubes. To pro- solids that might otherwise foul the mem-
[MW], supercritical boiler) makeup water duce the 300-gpm flow required by Unit 1 brane surfaces. The permeate flows directly
system in the 1980s. As part of a major and auxiliary systems, 24-membrane mod- to an existing storage tank, while the reject
upgrade in the 1990s, an RO unit and down- ules (Figure 1) were necessary. flows back to tank T-1. Thus, no water is lost
stream ion exchange system replaced the The MF process, like RO, operates via during normal operation. The standard mode
original flash evaporator in the Unit 2 (720 cross-flow filtration, in which the raw water of operation for our system is 10 to 15
MW, drum boiler) makeup train. Both RO flows parallel to the membrane surface. Water minutes of water production followed by a 1-
systems were designed for 75% recovery that passes through the membranes and is minute air scrub/reverse flush (AS/RF) to
with a maximum product water flowrate of purified is known as permeate. Not all water remove solids that collect on the membrane
200 gallons per minute (gpm). passes through each membrane, as a small surfaces.
Even though both La Cygne makeup water
systems were fitted with RO units, they con-
tinued to operate with the original clarifier/
sand filters for suspended solids removal.
By the early 2000s, combined chemical costs
for the two clarifiers had easily exceeded
$100,000 annually, with labor and routine
equipment repair costs adding considerably
to that amount. When each clarifier operated
properly, effluent turbidity could be lowered
to around 0.3 nephelometric turbidity units
(NTU). However, upsets in lake water chem-
istry or chemical feed equipment malfunc-
By Brad Buecker
Kansas City Power & Light
ISSN:0747-8291. COPYRIGHT (C) Tall Oaks

Publishing, Inc. Reproduction in whole, or in
part, including by electronic means, without per-
mission of publisher is prohibited. Those regis-
tered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
may photocopy this article for a flat fee per copy. Figure 1. Microfilter module rack.
26 ULTRAPURE WATER January/February 2007--UP240126

When the AS/RF sequence initiates, pump
P-1 stops and pump P-2 (also rated at 20 HP)
feeds water from tank T-2. This tank con-
tains previously filtered water to which sodi-
um hypochlorite has been added via pump P-
3, which takes simple feed from a drum of
hypochlorite. Air valve 7 opens to allow air
to scrub the membranes while the chlorinat-
ed water flows inside-out through the mem-
brane surfaces. Pump P-2 is also powered by
a VFD to allow the operator to adjust reverse
flush flowrate as necessary. Once this pro-
cess is complete, pump P-1 reactivates and
flushes the system for a short period fol-
lowed by a return to permeate production. At
the beginning of the new production cycle,
tank T-2 fills with clean water while pump P-
3 injects fresh sodium hypochlorite to the
Figure 2. Basic flow chart of the microfilter.
tank. The controls also include a timer that
periodically backwashes the inlet strainer
with feed from tank T-1. the test that even with regular air scrub/ Author Brad Buecker is the air quality con-
The only significant cost to operate the unit reverse flushes, membrane differential pres- trol specialist, and formerly plant chemist, at
is for the electricity that powers the P-1 and sures (DP) would gradually increase from Kansas City Power & Light Companys La
P-2 pumps. This cost is negligible compared day-to-day. As an experiment, we began Cygne, Kansas, power station. He has pre-
to what we were spending on the clarifier and treating the raw water feed with a small but vious experience as a chemical cleaning
sand filters. The heart of the control system continuous dosage of sodium hypochlorite services engineer, a water and wastewater
is a dedicated programmable logic controller to maintain a 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million system supervisor, and a consulting chemist
(PLC) mounted on the pump skid, which we (ppm) chlorine residual in the membrane for an engineering firm. Mr. Buecker has
control from a personal computer (PC) in the permeate. This improved membrane clean- written more than 70 articles and columns
Unit 1 laboratory. The primary screen re- liness. on steam generation, water treatment, and
sembles the diagram shown in Figure 2. We Other than a faulty inlet valve that the FGD chemistry, and he is the author of three
set the flowrate, AS/RF frequency, strainer vendor replaced promptly, the reliability of books on steam generation topics. Mr. Bueck-
backwash frequency, and other parameters the system has been superb. Results were so er is a member of ACS, AIChE, ASME, and
from this PC. The PLC acts upon any com- impressive that we purchased the unit and NACE.
mand changes instantly, and this gives us installed it in a permanent location in Febru-
excellent flexibility for adjusting water flow ary 2005. Operation since has been very Note: This article updates one first published in
to meet plant requirements. steady. We calculate that payback for the the September 2005 issue of Power Engineering.
MF will be less than 3 years. One issue has
Results and Lessons Learned come to our attention, however. We had Key words: MICROFILTERS, POWER,
Makeup water for the boilers is taken directly assumed that off-line cleaning was not need- PRETREATMENT, REVERSE OSMOSIS
from Lake La Cygne, where the typical tur- ed until the membrane DP approaches its
bidity ranges from 5 to 15 NTU. We were maximum limit.
given performance criteria that indicated the The process involves a step-wise proce-
MF would remove particles down to 0.1 dure of cleaning with a dilute sodium hy-
micron in size and produce an effluent tur- droxide (1%), sodium hypochlorite (500
bidity of less than 0.1 NTU. Within an hour ppm) solution, a rinse with filtered water,
after system start-up, effluent turbidities had cleaning with a citric acid solution (0.5%),
dropped to a range of 0.027 to 0.036 NTU. and then another rinse. Cleaning takes ap-
We found that the cartridge pre-filters ahead proximately 8 hours. From March 2005 to
of the Unit 1 RO, which normally had to be October 2005, we operated continuously
replaced prior to MF installation now do not before taking the unit off for cleaning. The
have to be replaced for months. DP did not recover to original values. We
Microfilter membrane pore sizes are larger have experimented with enhanced membrane
than those of RO membranes, which requires cleaning techniques using stronger sodium
much less pressure to push water through the hydroxide/bleach and citric acid solutions,
membranes. Typical membrane inlet pres- and these have had success. However, we
sures on our system range from 10 to 20 have been enormously pleased with the reli-
pounds per square inch gauge (psig). The ability of the pumps, valves, and instruments
minimal pressure requirement allows mem- on the system. It requires just a few minutes
brane construction of coarser but much more of operator attention per day, all from the
durable materials, in this case polyvinylidene computer.
fluoride (PVDF). This aspect proved to be
very important. We found early on during
ULTRAPURE WATER January/February 2007--UP240126 27

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TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING

MICROFILTRATION FOR MAKEUP WATER PRETREATMENT: A

ISSN:0747-8291. COPYRIGHT (C) Tall Oaks

26 ULTRAPURE WATER January/February 2007--UP240126

ULTRAPURE WATER January/February 2007--UP240126 27

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