CAB 3023: PROCESS PLANT DESIGN (JANUARY 2008 SEMESTER)

CHAPTER 26
Water System Design

REFERENCES

Polley, G. T. and H. L. Polley. Design better water networks. Chemical Engineering Progress 96 (2000), 2:
47–52.

Benkó, N., E. Rév, and Z. Fonyó. The use of nonlinear programming to optimal water allocations.
Chemical Engineering Communications 178 (2000): 67–101.

INTRODUCTION

water reuse: reduces both volume of freshwater and volume of wastewater because the same water is used
twice

regeneration: any treatment process that regenerates quality of water such that it is acceptable for further
use

regeneration reuse: in addition to allowing a reduction in the water volume, also removes part of the
contaminant load that would have to be otherwise removed in the final effluent treatment before discharge

 Figures 26.2c and 26.2d both show arrangements involving regeneration.

 Regeneration is a term used to describe any treatment process that regenerates the quality of water such
that it is acceptable for further use.
 Figure 26.2c shows regeneration reuse in which the outlet water from Operation 2 is too contaminated
to be used directly into Operation 3.
 A regeneration process between the two allows reuse to take place.
 Regeneration reuse reduces both the volume of the freshwater and the volume of the wastewater, as
with reuse, but also removes part of the effluent load (i.e., kilograms of contaminant).
 The regeneration, in addition to allowing a reduction in the water volume, also removes part of the
contaminant load that would have to be otherwise removed in the final effluent treatment before
discharge.

 A third option is shown in Figure 26.2d where a regeneration process is used on the outlet water from
the operations and the water is recycled.
 The distinction between the regeneration reuse shown in Figure 26.2c and the regeneration recycling
shown in Figure 26.2d is that in regeneration reuse, the water only goes through any given operation
once.
 Figure 26.2c shows that the water goes from Operation 2 to regeneration, then to Operation 3, and then
discharge.
 By contrast, in Figure 26.2d, the water can go through the same operation many times.
 Regeneration recycling reduces the volume of freshwater and wastewater and also reduces the effluent
load by virtue of the regeneration process taking up part of the required effluent treatment load.
 CHAPTER 26
Water System Design
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1. Typical Water System and Effluent System

Contaminated
Operation 1
Stormwater
RAW WATER
Freshwater Operation 2 Wastewater
TREATMENT

Operation 3

BFW Steam Steam Condensate

TREATMENT System Loss

Boiler Blowdown

Ion Exchange Regeneration

Evaporative
Losses
Wastewater
Cooling Tower Blowdown § Discharge
Treatment

2. Water-using operations include:

reactors (vapour or liquid)
extraction processes
steam stripping
steam ejectors
equipment washing (e.g., water from cooling towers)
hosing operations, etc.

NOTE: There two sources of water: (1) process water and (2) utility water

3. Some trends:

Reuse Water and Apply Distributed Effluent Treatment

 Distributed
Effluent Treatment System
(Water Using
Units)
Operation 1 Treatment
Discharge
(dirtier)
reuse Plant
RAW WATER
Freshwater Operation 2
TREATMENT
Freshwater Operation 3 Treatment
(cleaner) Plant Contaminated
Stormwater
Boiler

BFW Steam Steam Condensate

(Water Using TREATMENT System Loss
Units)
Boiler Blowdown

Wastewater
Ion Exchange Regeneration Discharge
Treatment
Evaporative Plant
Losses
Discharge
Cooling Tower Blowdown
to sea
Maximum level of contaminants

Water Reuse

OPERATION 1

FRESHWATER WASTEWATER
OPERATION 2

OPERATION 3

 Water reused in different operations

 Reduces freshwater and wastewater

Distributed Effluent Treatment

 Increases opportunity for material recovery (through segregation)
 Can significantly reduce effluent treatment costs

Treatment processes can also be used to regenerate water for further use (NOTE: regenerate means
treatment with the purpose of reusing or recyling the water)

Regeneration can in principle be any reaction or separation process which removes contamination:
 chemical oxidation
 filtration
 carbon adsorption
 steam stripping, etc.

Regeneration Reuse
 OPERATION 1

FRESHWATER WASTEWATER
OPERATION 2 REGENERATION

OPERATION 3
 water regenerated to be reused in different operations (NOTE: water never sees the same operation
twice)

Regeneration Recycling

OPERATION 1

FRESHWATER WASTEWATER
OPERATION 2 REGENERATION

OPERATION 3

1. Water can be recycled to processes in which it has been used previously—compare against
regeneration reuse

Design Problem

Summary

1. Water system design

maximum water reuse (what is the minimum feed water flowrate corresponding to maximum
water reuse)
minimize freshwater consumption and wastewater generation
2. Distributed (NOT: centralized) effluent treatment
treat only streams which need to be treated
minimize treatment costs
can help with material recovery
3. Water system (i.e., water-using units) and effluent treatment (water-treatment units) system interact

WATER CONTAMINATION

1. two reasons why we consider water contamination:

i. discharge to environment is regulated
 Process 1 Treatment Plant

Process 1
Primary
Treatment

Process 1

Biological
Cooling Tower Treatment
Blowdown

Boiler
Blowdown

Discharge
C  Cenvironmental
law

ii. contamination limits water reuse (NOTE: contaminants = pollutants/solutes)

2. What are some typical contaminants in water and effluent systems?

Two types of contaminants:

aggregated contaminants: COD, BOD, suspended solids, dissolved solids
single contaminants: sulphates, nitrates, metals e.g., mercury, iron, boron

Oxygen Demand
1. Organic material oxidized by natural processes to stable end products:
e.g.:
CH4N2O + 9/2 O2  CO2 + 2H2O + 2NO3
urea oxygen carbon water nitrate
dioxide

2. Oxygen used is biological oxygen demand (BOD)

3. Three tests used:
i. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5): oxidation with microorganisms over a 5-day period at 20C
ii. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD): oxidation with acidic potassium dichromate
iii. Total Oxygen Demand (TOD): oxygen in air stream at 900C over catalyst
4. Relationship: BOD < COD < TOD for the same waste stream
5. Complete data on relationship:
6. Also, if analysis of waste stream is known, we can calculate Theoretical Oxygen Demand (ThOD)

Example
A process produces an aqueous waste stream containing 0.1 mol% acetone. Estimate the COD and BOD of
the stream.

Solution
First, calculate the theoretical oxygen demand from the equation that represents the overall oxidation of the
acetone:

(CH3)2CO + 4O2  3CO2 + 3H2O

acetone oxygen carbon water
dioxide

Approximating the molar density of the waste stream to be that of pure water (i.e., 56 kmol/m3), then:

 4 kmol O 2 
theoretical oxygen demand  0.1%  56   
 m3 
 32 kg O 2 
 0.001 56  4   
 m3 
kg O 2
 7.2
m3

thus:

COD  7.2 kg/m3

BOD  7.2  0.35 = 2.5 kg/m3

Other contaminants/pollutants/solutes:
 pH
 suspended solids
 heavy metals
 halogenated organic
 organic nitrogen
 organic sulphur
 nitrates
 phosphates
 toxicity
 temperatures, etc.

Summary
1. Water contamination dictates the effluent treatment and also limits reuse between operations
2. Wastewater streams are characterized by biological oxygen demand and many other measures (i.e.,
these are the contaminants)
WATER USE REPRESENTATION

Water used for a wide variety of purposes:

 reaction medium (vapour or liquid)
 extraction processes
 steam stripping
 steam ejectors
 equipment washing
 hosing operations, etc.
Do these operations have anything in common?

PROCESS

Mass Transfer
Water fW
CW,in CW,out

1. Process becomes less contaminated

2. Water becomes more contaminated
3. But we need to represent this quantitatively

PROCES
S
Mass
Transfer
Water fW
CW,i
CW,out
n

Concentration

Mass
Transfer
CW,out

fW
te r
Wa
CW,i
Mass
n
Load
mC  f W c
mC mC
fW    slope
c Cout  Cin
Pinch analysis for energy:
H  CPT

Traditional Approaches to Water Minimization

1. reduce water flowrate to extraction processes and reduce mass transfer driving forces
2. increasing the number of stages in extraction process that use water

Reduce Water Flowrate

Concentration

Reducing Cout,max
water Higher outlet concentration
flowrate (hence less water)

Mass Load
Insight/Concept 1: Minimum flowrate of maximum outlet concentration limits

mC  f W c
mC 1
fW  
c slope of mC vs. c
slope  f W 
slope  f W 

Maximum outlet concentration depends on:

maximum solubility
corrosion limitations
fouling limitations
minimum mass transfer driving force
minimum flowrate requirements
maximum inlet concentration for downstream treatment

Example

To calculate mass load (pick-up of contaminants):

 mass pick-up of contaminant  flowrate of water  concentration change
mC  f W  c

kg kg kg
Units  
h h kg
g t
or   ppm
h h
 t 1 kg 
  
 h 1 10 kg 
6

NOTE: Base concentration on flowrate of water, not flowrate of mixture:

m mC
c  C NOT c 
fW fW  mC

Summary
1. Water-using processes can be represented on plot of concentration versus mass load
2. Traditional approaches to water minimization lower flowrate but the scope is limited by maximum
outlet concentration
 LECTURE 4
Targeting Maximum Water Reuse

Keywords:
Limiting water profile
Limiting composite curve

Concentration

Cout,max

e
fil
ro

Cout
p
er
at
W

Mass Load

Maximum outlet concentration for each operation:

 hence minimum total water use—OR IS IT?

 Have we considered all options?
 Are there any other variables we have overlooked?

Concentration

Cout,max

Cout

Cin,max

Mass
Load

Alternative water profile (to the one shown here) uses more water but accepts slightly contaminated water.

Limiting Water Profile

Limiting water flowrate = flowrate required if specified mass of contaminant is picked up by water between
max inlet and outlet concentrations
If an operation has a maximum inlet contaminant concentration > 0 and it is fed by water with zero
concentration,
Concentration Composite Curves
Limiting composite curve

Concentration
CONCENTRATION COMPOSITE CURVE

800

LIMITING COMPOSITE CURVE

Water supply line
(gives minimum water
flowrate = 91.11 t/h)

400

100
50
0
2 7 37 41
Mass load
s

 Represents a quantitative profile of the single-stream equivalent to the four separate streams
 Combined boundary between feasible and infeasible concentrations
 Water supply line that gives minimum water flowrate

Advantage of this approach:

 Allows operations with different characteristics to be compared on a common basis (e.g., water used in
an extraction process vs. a hosing operation)
 Does not require a model of the operation to represent the mass transfer
 Does not depend on any particular flow pattern (countercurrent vs. cocurrent)
 Works on any type of water-using operation (e.g., firewater makeup, reactor medium, reactant in a
reaction, cooling water makeup)
 LECTURE 5
Design for Maximum Water Reuse