A large power plant located in Alberta, Canada, generates over 800 megawatts of electricity for Alberta residents using natural gas. The facility utilizes two combustion turbines featuring a combined cycle technology to generate electricity. In addition, the plant processes waste heat through a steam turbine to produce additional electricity.
The power plant uses up to 7.7 million gallons per day (MGD) of reclaimed wastewater from the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant. Effluent from the wastewater plant is pumped through a 9-mile-long pipe to the power plant. The majority of this water is used for cooling tower water and boiler feed water.
To reduce total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity prior to sending the water to the cooling towers and boilers, the power plant utilizes three 8-disk AquaDisk® cloth media filters to achieve this objective. The AquaDisk filters successfully remove TSS and reduce turbidity to protect the heat exchangers from clogging.
How Cloth Media Filtration Works
Water from the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant enters the cloth media filters and flows by gravity through the stationary, hollow cloth disks. The filtrate exits through the hollow shaft that supports the individual disks and flows to the effluent channel. As solids accumulate on the surface of the cloth media, the water level surrounding the disks rises. Once a predetermined level is reached, the disks rotate and the media surface is automatically vacuum-backwashed clean. Filtration continues during backwash and heavier solids settle to the bottom of the tank and are removed on an intermittent basis.
AquaDisk cloth media filtration is a proven and economical solution for filtering process water used in the production of energy. The unit’s simple operation, low energy requirement and small footprint are attractive advantages for power plants that require filtration of their process water.
Aqua Aerobic provides total water management solutions in aeration and mixing, biological processes, membranes, filtration, process control and monitoring systems. Learn more at www.aqua-aerobic.com.
