Use of Reclaimed Water for Power Plant Cooling

摘要

Over the past few years, utilities in many locations, including parts of the country not traditionally water-poor (e.g., Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina) have needed to reevaluate the availability of water to meet their cooling needs. This trend will only become more extreme with time. Other trends are likely to increase pressure on freshwater supplies, too. For example, as populations increase, they will require more food. This in turn will likely increase demands for water by the agricultural sector. Another example is the recent increased interest in producing biofuels. Additional water will be required to grow more crops to serve as the raw materials for biofuels and to process the raw materials into biofuels. This report provides information about an opportunity to reuse an abundant water source, treated municipal wastewater, also known as reclaimed water for cooling and process water in electric generating facilities. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energys (DOEs) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Innovations for Existing Plants research program (Feeley 2005). This program initiated an energy-water research effort in 2003 that includes the availability and use of nontraditional sources of water for use at power plants. This report represents a unique reference for information on the use of reclaimed water for power plant cooling. In particular, the database of reclaimed water user facilities described in Chapter 2 is the first comprehensive national effort to identify and catalog those plants that are using reclaimed water for cooling.