| Title | Assessment of Traditional and Novel Membrane Processes for Recovery of Cooling Tower Water in Geothermal Power Plants |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cath, Tzahi Y.; Walker, Nathan; Childress, Amy E.; Hutton, Mirinda; Weinberg, Assaf |
| Year | 2008 |
| Conference | Geothermal Resources Council Transactions |
| Keywords | Cooling Tower; Water Treatment; Membranes; Blowdown; Degasification; Membrane Distillation; Forward Osmosis |
| Abstract | Cooling towers in geothermal power plants use large quantities of water to ensure high-efficiency generation of power. However, low quality of make up water results in inefficient use of water and discharge of large volumes of blowdown water. Membrane processes can be utilized in conjunction with cooling towers to reclaim blowdown water and beneficially reuse the product water; thereby reducing operating cost and increasing water use efficiency. In the current study conventional pressure-driven membrane processes (i.e., nanofiltration and reverse osmosis) are tested for treatment of blowdown water alongside testing of novel, thermally-driven and osmotically-driven membrane processes. Results from bench- and pilot-scale investigations will be presented. Additionally, novel thermally-driven membrane processes have been tested for degasification of blowdown water before injection to the subsurface. Results demonstrated that savings can be achieved by reducing chemical use and degassing with membranes. |