TREVOSE, Pa. — A Russian gas-powered plant using GE’s corrosion inhibitor technology saved 1.3 million gallons of water and $120,000 annually, according to a press release.
The facility, TEC VAZ VoTGK, also decreased copper corrosion by 30 times, stated the release. It reduced "the amount of copper [discharge] into the Volga River by four times."
The achievements earned the plant GE’s Ecomagination award, noted the release. It is given to industrial users who find positive balances between environmental, industrial and sustainability challenges.
"Our operational costs had been rising and we were being charged a penalty for discharging water with a high copper concentration," said Vadim Nikolaev, director and chief engineer for TEC VAZ VoTGK. "Now our Volga power plant’s cooling systems run more smoothly."
The power plant has 14 boilers and 11 turbines, surface condensers and auxiliary equipment to provide power, heating and hot water to the Volga automotive plant and a nearby city, reported the release. Water is taken from the Volga River for the cooling systems, and the blowdown is then discharged back into the river.
Before utilizing GE’s technology, the cooling systems were untreated, shared the release. Because of this, the plant operated the cooling systems at low cycles of concentration to reduce the discharge penalty for high copper concentrations within the effluent.
You can find the entire release here.
