INSIGHT

What do you do when your facility has an abundance of water from heavy rains for half the year and is faced with drought the other six months? You look for a way to make the most of the water you have and ensure that it is clean, so you can achieve optimum system performance and bring down the costs associated with periods of water scarcity.

Energias do Brasil (EDP) faced this situation at a power plant in northeast Brazil. The solution: Purate™ onsite chlorine dioxide generation.

INNOVATION

The EDP plant relies on lake water for its cooling system. During droughts, when there is less water in the lake and the price of water goes up, the plant reuses water so it can draw less from the lake. The power plant was looking to increase recirculating cycles from an average of six to seven cycles up to 10. To do this, it had to control high levels of minerals and microbiological growth in the water, both of which affected the cooling system’s performance. 

The plant also faced corrosion and foaming issues and it was using different treatment options to address these concerns. But the treatments failed to keep the cooling system clean.

To gain control of water quality in the plant’s cooling system, Ecolab introduced Purate Technology. Because Purate is more effective at treating corrosion and foam issues than the previous solution and is also a more effective disinfectant, it improved microbiological control and reduced chemistry consumption. Using Purate and its remote data monitoring capabilities, the power plant was able to increase cooling tower recirculating cycles up to 10, meet outgoing water quality standards and operate efficiently during the dry months of the year. Purate also led to significant reductions in energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result of this partnership, Ecolab won EDP’s supplier of the year award in both 2017 and 2018.