FGD Scrubber Blowdown
Wet scrubbers remove sulfur from flue gas in coal-fired power plants. The scrubbing agents used in FGD scrubbers are limestone (calcium carbonate) and/or lime and caustic soda. Wastewater from the wet scrubbing FGD process must itself be treated before being released to surface water. FGD wastewater poses a treatment challenge because of the following unique characteristics: high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS); high sulfates; high temperature; high organic concentration; ammonia and presence of heavy metals such as arsenic, boron, mercury, and selenium.
Challenges:
    • Treatment of the FGD blowdown currently consists of blending with cooling tower blowdown to meet EPA discharge requirement.
    • Current technologies to desalinate the FGD are expensive.
Solution:
The RDI™ Desalination System offers a cost-effective alternative to conventional technologies for treating this water as the system can tolerate sulfates and reduce the heavy metal content below EPA requirements for drinking water.

Applicable Market

MarketButton.Power