In power generation, treatment of recovered condensed steam forms a pivital role in the overall plant energy efficiency. As steam passes through production areas, or through a steam turbine, it collects impurities from the surfaces in which it comes into contact.
These impurities build up in the condensate, as it is returned back to the boiler and reprocessed. To minimise energy losses through unnecessary boiler blow downs, as well as to reduce the amount of high purity demineralised make-up water is needed on site, high purity ion exchange processes are implemented.
The typical condensate polishing process involves either dedicated cation/anion exchange columns or more typically a mixed bed process, which contains both cations and anion resins within a single ion exchange vessel.
The cation resin removes all positive ions, including ammonia (NH4+), calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium and replaces them with hydrogen (H+) which is loosely bound to the polymer matrix.
Similarly, the anion resin removes all negative ions, including sulfate, chloride, nitrate, carbonate as well as weakly ionised carbon dioxide and silica. These ions are replaced by hydroxyl (OH-) ions, which combine with the excess H+ to form water. Only the residual 10^-7 mol of H+/OH- remains, which
To maximise the life of the resin, Hydroflux provide dedicated regeneration systems including specialised high purity air scour and backwash processes necessary to separate the cation and anion resins within the mixed bed vessels. Waste treatment systems are also necessary for managing the spent regenerant prior to discharge from site.
Hydroflux and our partners Flootech specialise in the manufacture of condensate polishers for the power, pulp & paper, mining, petrochemical and other heavy industries. We design and manufacture a wide range of systems for condensate polisher plants
Hydroflux® also offers a wide range of ion exchange processes for the power sector.
Details on our HyX Groundwater Remediation processes can be found here.
Details on our FlooIX Demineralised Water Make-Up systems can be found here.