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Environmental Innovations for
Fossil Energy Applications; Development of Technologies to Reduce Freshwater
Use and Consumption in Coal‑Fired Power Plants--TIAX, LLC, 15 Acorn
Park, Cambridge, MA 02140; 617-498-5655;
www.tiaxllc.com
Dr. David Kingston Owens,
Principal Investigator, owens.kingston@tiaxllc.com
Dr. Renee Wong, Business
Official, wong.renee@tiaxllc.com
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER84681
Amount: $99,984
Electricity
generation by coal-fired power plants requires an abundant and predictable
source of freshwater, about 38 gallons of water per kilowatt hour of
electricity produced. The water is used
primarily for steam cooling with a lesser quantity for pollution control. Although alternate sources of water (such as
mine pool water, coal-bed methane produced water, municipal wastewater, and
brackish or saline water) could be used to supply the water needs of a fossil
fuel power plant, these sources often are too contaminated to use without
expensive treatment. This project will
develop a cost-effective method for converting these non-traditional water
sources into freshwater for use in a power plant or other industrial
processes. The approach involves the use
of low grade waste heat from fuel combustion, which normally is discharged into
the atmosphere, to clean the contaminated water with a
humidification/dehumidification process carried out at atmospheric
pressure. An important feature will be
the use of stack gas waste heat, as access to this heat stream is relatively
easy and does not require a major redesign of the plant or a major shutdown for
installation. In a preliminary model, it
was demonstrated that in a 1000 MW power plant, 132 MW of heat could be
recovered without appreciably affecting stack performance, resulting in 3.5
million gallons of water per day – nearly 20% of the water lost due to
evaporation and aerosol production from the cooling towers.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: Anticipated public benefits can be estimated by assuming
that the technology becomes widely adapted and retrofitted to a large number of