Proposed Water Conditioning for Process and Boiler Use of Universal Robina Process (URC) Passi Sugar

Pearly Grace Resano Fritzie Jane Salido Ma. Adeliza Mortalla Catherine Murcia
Chemical Engineering Department Central Philippine University

Submitted to Engr. Jan Mitchell Magbal

Raw Production URC Passi

May 29, 2012

Contents

1. Introduction 2. Objectives 3. Scope of Work 4. Technical Approach 4.1. Feed Water Specifications 4.2. Generating Process Design Concept 4.3. Selecting Process Design Concept 5. Advantages of Reverse Osmosis 6. Limitations of Reverse Osmosis 7. Problems with Reverse Osmosis

I. Introduction

Water is as much a raw material in the manufacture of sugar as sugar cane itself. Both of these raw materials are of variable compositions and require regular control testing. Mill laboratories are naturally occupied in testing all stages of the manufacture of the final product. Efficient modern practice calls for regular control testing of water quality, particularly the quality of the boiler feed water and the control of feed water conditioning.

Water conditioning has developed practical techniques that permit of "Tailor made" water, a feature quite unheard of thirty years ago. What the industry does is to integrate the new techniques to obtain maximum use of the equipment. This equipment is still of immense value in practice in the mills processing cane today. Many mills are installing new boilers and are placing importance on the efficiency of steam generation in the industry.

The extraction of sugar from sugar cane depends on steam being available at the mill. The site chosen for a mill depends on a number of factors. Among the principal of these is the positioning on the sugar estate in relation to transport of cane to the mill and also the availability of a source of water of sufficient quantity, and of suitable quality for the general water requirements of the mill and residential areas adjacent to it.

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) Passi, formerly known as Passi Sugar Central Inc., located Brgy. Imbang Pequeo, San Enrique, Iloilo, built in early 1968-1970, producing an average capacity of 4,400 tonnes cane processed per day, consumes water in its milling operation. It is situated near the river which became the primary water source of the plant.

The water utilized by URC Passi for its milling operation is generally classified as "lowland surface water". Lowland surface water may contain excessive quantities of mud and silt in suspension, and variable quantities of mineral salts and vegetable matter. The mineral salts are derived from the rocks and soils and farmlands through which the water passes.

For this reason, URC Passi has a water purification plant. In principle, this plant was designed to provide quality water to the boiler and other operating conditions. The process design of water purification plant involves three processes, clarification/sedimentation, filtration, ion-exchange and deaeration. For clarification, the river water is pumped into a water reactor where a poly-aluminum chloride is added as a flocculant. Then, the clarified water is pumped into the filter and to ion-exchanger to remove the water hardness. Before entering the boiler, the oxygen in the water is removed using deaerator. The purpose of the treatment is to avoid the risk of

corrosion in the boiler, the feed water and the steam/condensate systems scale formation and deposits in the boiler. Boiler scale is a poor conductor of heat. Apart from increased stack losses, it easily causes overheating and subsequent collapse of the heating surface material. The boiler tubes may also be completely clogged.

deposits in superheaters and turbines priming and foaming in the boilers

Low-temperature waste heat is often utilized for the preheating of the feed water. In this way it is often possible to improve substantially the heat economy.

The feed water is generally a mixture of make-up water and condensate. The condensate is usually of high purity, and it can often be used without further treatment. It also generally carries a considerable amount of heat. For these reasons, it pays to return as much as possible of the condensate to the boiler house.

Condensates may, however, be contaminated and corrosive, and therefore it is often necessary to take certain precautions in order to ensure the good quality of the condensate.

Since whole production of a factory is often dependent upon the steam delivered from the boiler house, it is very important to keep the boilers in good condition by maintaining a good quality of feed water. It is then appropriate to use reverse osmosis (RO) to water purification plant of URC Passi. This proposal is intended to present the benefits of adding RO to the purification plant. II. Objectives a. To design a water purification process for boiler and process operation b. To identify the benefits of the process design c. To identify possible disadvantages of the process design

III. Scope of work

This study focuses on use reverse osmosis to provide good quality water for steam boiler use. The water conditioning processes will only include clarification, filtration, RO, ionexchange and deaeration. The emphasis is on the application in Universal Robina Corporation (URC) Passi Sugar, Brgy. Imbang Pequeo, San Enrique, Iloilo.

This study does not include the actual design (dimension, details, etc.) of the reverse osmosis chamber. An experienced expert should always be consulted for the design and installation of RO chamber.

This study presents background information regarding the current water conditioning processes of URC Passi which includes clarification, filtration, ion-exchange and deaeration but does not include the actual designs or suggestions on how to improve these facilities.

IV. Technical Approach

IV.1. Boiler Feed Water Specification 10.5 11.5 250 350 0-2 ppm 2500 ppm

pH P-alkalinity M-alkalinity Hardness Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

Sugar

These boiler feed water specifications should be strictly followed in order to prevent scaling and corrosion in the boiler.

IV.2. Generating Process Design Concept

The water reactor, filter, ion-exchanger and deaerator are being used in the current water purification plant of URC Passi. These processes are still included and could be used in the proposed process design but reverse osmosis will be added to further improve the quality of boiler feed water.

Reverse osmosis is a technique used in processes requiring high-quality, purified water. It can be used to treat boiler feedwater, industrial wastewater, or process water. RO uses waterline pressure to push raw wastewater against a special semi-permeable membrane. It is essentially a molecular squeezing process which causes H20 molecules to separate from the contaminants. The separated water molecules then pass thru to the inside of the membrane on to a holding reservoir. The contaminants are washed from the membrane and disposed of. Recently, RO has been used in treating boiler feedwater, in addition to industrial and process wastewaters. Boilers are found throughout the chemical processing industry and the primary method to treat boiler wastewater is an ion-exchange based demineralization.

After reverse osmosis, an electrodeionization (EDI) cell usually follows. Electrodeionization (EDI) is a continuous electro-chemical process of water purification where ion specific membranes, mixed bed resin, and a DC voltage across them, replace the standard acid-caustic chemical regeneration process. It combines membrane separation and ion-exchange to provide high efficiency demineralization process.

An EDI Cell consists of a series of thin chambers that alternately contain mixed bed resin for water purification and a concentrate water flow to carry away impurities. Ion-specific membranes, cationic on one side and anionic on the other, separate the chambers.

Figure 1. EDI Cell

Standard EDI Feed Water Requirements RO feed quality: 30 ppm or better Water Hardness: 0.1 ppm Iron (Fe+++): 0.05 ppm Free Chlorine/Chloramine: 0.01 ppm Maximum inlet pressure: 80 psi Maximum inlet temperature: 90

IV.3. Selecting Process Design Concept

The EDI feed water requirement is much lower than the boiler feed water specifications. It would not be economical to install EDI after reverse osmosis.

Clarification/Sedimentation (Water Reactor) Fitration (Filters) Reverse Osmosis (RO Chamber) Ion-exchange (Ion-exchanger)

Deaeration (Deaerator)
Figure 2. Water conditioning process diagram

Potential Benefits in the Addition of RO ahead of Demineralizer: Reduced acid & caustic regenerant costs 90 95% reduction in regenerant usage is typical

Reduced operator labor Reduced high TDS regenerant neutralization discharge Extended ion exchange resin life 40 50% extension in resin life typical Greatly reduced regen. cycles & reduced iron/organic fouling

Improved feedwater & steam quality Sodium & silica slippage & breaks significantly reduced

5. Advantages of Reverse Osmosis Reduced fuel costs through lower heat loss / increased boiler cycles Reduced boiler system chemical treatment costs Improved operation & Steam Purity Reduced risk Improved condensate corrosion control Reduced external treatment costs; particularly if previously using cold or hot lime softening, ion exchange and / or re-generable DI Remove / reduce hazardous acid and caustic chemicals Extended ion exchange resin life Rejection of all dissolved solids Operating costs not directly dependant on TDS Enables high cycle boiler operation Requires no chemical regenerants (acid/caustic) Not labor intensive Versatile pairings with resin-based systems Ideal for mobile applications

6. Limitations of Reverse Osmosis RO alone not suitable for HP boiler feedwater > 1000 psig with turbine Higher electrical costs than resin-based systems (high-pressure pumps)

Generates significant reject stream (typically 20 30% of input stream) Does not reject CO2 (g)

7. Problems with Reverse Osmosis It is necessary to establish feedwater quality guidelines to optimize system performance and prevent the three main problems associated with RO: scaling, fouling, and degradation of RO membranes (Kucera 55) . These problems tend to decrease system productivity because they reduce wastewater purity. Scaling occurs on RO membranes when the concentration of scaleforming species exceeds saturation, producing additional solids within the RO feedwater. Scalants include such chemical species as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, strontium sulfate, and reactive silica (Kucera 55). Since these species have very low solubilities, they are difficult to remove from RO membranes. Scaling decreases the effectiveness of the membranes in reducing the solids and causes more frequent cleanings. A scale on a membrane provides nucleation sites that increase the rate of formation of additional scale