FEED WATER TREATMENT PLANT

EXPERIMENT - 6
1. Objective:
To study of feed water treatment plants.
2. Introduction:
Feed water is the major source of soluble and insoluble impurities entering the boiler and
therefore the principal aim of the feed water treatment and monitoring is to minimize the
levels of such impurities.
The objectives of any chemical treatment for a modern, safe and efficient thermal power
plant are:
 To reduce corrosion of metals and equipment
 To avoid scale formation
3. Methods of Feed water treatment:

Feed water
treatment

External Internal
Treatment Treatment

Colloidal
conditioning
Lime-soda Zeolite Ion exchange
process process process Phosphate
conditioning
Cold lime-soda
Process Carbonate
Conditioning
Hot lime-soda
Process
Calgon
Conditioning

Chart 6.1 Methods of Feed water treatment

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External treatment
a) Lime-soda process:
In this Method, the soluble calcium and Magnesium salts in water are chemically converted
into insoluble Compounds by adding calculated amounts of lime Ca (OH) 2 and soda Na 2CO3
calcium carbonate CaCO3 and magnesium hydroxide Mg (OH)2. So Precipitated, are filtered
off.
Cold lime-soda process:
In this Method, Calculated quantity of chemical (lime and soda) is mixed with water at room
temperature. At room temperature, the precipitates formed are finely divided, so they do not
settle down easily and cannot be filtered easily. Consequently, it is essential to add small
amounts of coagulants (Like Alum, aluminum sulphate, sodium aluminate, Etc.). Which
hydrolyses to flocculent, gelatinous precipitate of aluminum hydroxide, and entraps the fine
precipitates. Use of sodium aluminate as coagulant, also helps the removal of silica as well as
oil, if present in water. Cold L-S process provides water, containing a residual hardness of 50
to 60 ppm.
NaAlO2 + 2H2 O ----> NaOH +Al(OH) 3
Al2 (SO4 ) 3 +3 Ca(HCO3 ) 2 ----> 2Al(OH) 3 + 3 CaSO4 + 6CO2
Method:
Raw water and calculated quantities of chemicals (Lime + soda + coagulant) are fed from the
top into the inner vertical circular chambers, fitted with a vertical rotating shaft carrying a
number of paddles , As the raw water and chemicals flow down there is a vigorous stirring
and continuous mixing, whereby softening of water takes place. As the softened ware comes
into the outer chamber of the lime the softened water reaches up. The softened water then
passes through a filtering media (usually made of wood fibers) to ensure complete removal
of sludge. Filtered soft water finally a flow out continuously through the outlet at the top
sludge settling at the bottom of the outer chamber is drawn off occasionally.

Figure 6.1 Cold lime soda process

Hot lime-soda process:
Involves in treating water with softening chemicals at a temperature of 80 to 150 0C. Since
hot process is operated at a temperature close to the boiling point of the solution, so (i) the
reaction proceeds faster; (ii) the softening capacity of hot process is increased to may fold;
(iii) the precipitate and sludge formed settle down rapidly and hence, no coagulants are
needed; (iv) much of the gases (Such as CO2 and air) Driven out of the water; (v) Viscosity of
softened water is lower, so filtration of water becomes much easier. This in-turn increases

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the filtering capacity of filters, and (vi) Hot Lime-Soda Produces water of comparatively lower
residual hardness of 15 to 30ppm.
Hot lime-soda plant consists essentially of three parts (a)‘reaction tank’ in which raw water,
chemicals and steam are thoroughly mixed; (b)‘conical sedimentation vessel’ in which sludge
settles down, and (c)‘Sand filter’ which ensures complete removal of sludge from the softened
water.

Figure 6.2 Hot lime soda process

Advantages of Lime soda process:
 It is a very economical
 If this process is combined with sedimentation with coagulation, lesser amounts of
coagulants shall be needed
 The process increased the pH value of the treated water, thereby corrosion of the
distribution pipes is reduced
 Besides the removal of hardness, the quantity of minerals in the water are reduced
 To certain extent, iron and manganese are also removed from the water.
 Due to alkaline nature of treated- water, amount of pathogenic bacteria’s in water is
considerably reduced
Disadvantages of Lime soda process:
 Disposal of large amounts of sludge (insoluble precipitate) poses a problem. However, the
sludge may be disposed off in raising low-lying areas of the city
 This can remove hardness only up to 15 ppm, which is not good for boilers.
b) Zeolite process:
Chemical structure of sodium zeolite may be represented as Na2O3, Sio2, YH2O where x=2-10
and y=2-6. Zeolite is hydrated sodium alumino silicate, capable of exchanging reversibly its
sodium ions for hardness, producing ions in water Zeolite are two types,

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i. Natural zeolites are non-porous for Ex; Natrolite Na2Al3O3.4sio22h2o

ii. Synthetic zeolites possess gel structure. Synthetic Zeolites possess higher exchange
capacity than natural Zeolites
Process
For Softening of water by Zeolite process, hard water is percolated at a specified rate through
a bed of zeolite; kept in a cylinder. The Hardness causing ions (ca+2, Mg+2 etc.) are retained by
the zeolite as CaZe and MgZe, while the outgoing water contains sodium salts. Reactions
taking place during the softening process are,
Na2Ze +Ca (HCO3) 2 ----> CaZe +2NaHCO3
Na2Ze +Mg (HCO3) 2 ----> MgZe +2NaHCO3

Figure 6.3 Zeolite process

Regeneration:
After Some time the zeolite is completely converted into calcium and magnesium Zeolites and
it ceases to soften water i.e.; it gets exhausted. At this stage the supply of hard water is
stopped and the exhausted zeolite is reclaimed by treating the bed with a concentrated NaCl
solution
CaZe (or MgZe) + 2NaCl ----> Na2Ze + CaCl2 (or MgCl2 )
The washings are led to drain and the regenerated zeolite bed thus obtained is used again
for softening process.
Limitations:
 If the supply of water is turbid in will clog the pores of zeolite led
 Water contains large quantities of colored ions such as Mn+2 and Fe+2 they may be
removed first because these ions produce Mn and Fe Zeolites ,which can’t be easily
regenerated

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 Mineral acids destiny the zeolite bed

Advantages:
 If removes the hardness almost completely
 Equipment occupying a small space
 Requires less time
 It is quite clean
Disadvantages:
 Treated water contains more sodium salts than in time soda process
 The method only replaces Ca+2 and Mg+2 ions by Na+ ions leaves all the acidic ions.
c) Ion-exchange process:
Ion exchange resins are insoluble, cross linked long chain organic polymers with micro porous
structure, and the functional groups attached to the chains are responsible for the Ion –
exchanging properties resigns containing acidic functional groups (-cool+,-so3H etc.) are
capable of exchanging their H+ ions with other cat ions, which comes in their contact where
as those containing basic functional groups(-NH2=NH, hydrochloride) are capable of
exchanging their anions with other anions, which comes in their contact Ion exchange resins
may be classified as,
i. Cat ion exchange resin(RH+) are mainly styrene-divinyl benzene copolymers, which on
sulphonation or carboxylation, become capable to exchange their hydrogen ions with the
cat ions in water
ii. Anions exchange resins (ROH) are styrene-divinyl benzene or amine-formaldehyde,
copdymers, which contains amino or quaternary ammonium or quaternary phosphonium
or tertiary sulphonium groups as an integral part of the resin matrix these after treatment
with dilute. NaOH solutions become capable to exchange their OH-anions with anions.
Process:
The Hard water is passed first through cat ion exchange column, which removes all the cat
ions like Ca+2 etc. from it and equivalent amount of H+ ions released from this column to
water, thus
2RH+ + Ca2+ → R2Ca2+ + 2H+
2RH+ + Mg2+ → R2Mg2+ + 2H+
After Cat ion exchange column, the hard water is passed through anion exchange column
which removes all the anions like so4, cl- etc. present in the water and equivalent amount of
OH- ions are released from this column to water thus:
R’OH- + Cl- → R’Cl- + OH-
2R’OH- + SO42- →R’2SO42- + 2OH-
2R’OH- + CO32- →R’2CO32- +2OH-
H+ and OH- ions get combined to produce water molecule
H+ + OH- → H2O
The water coming out from the exchanger is deionized or demineralized water.
Regeneration:

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When capacities of cation and anion exchangers to exchange H+ and OH- ions respectively
are lost, they are then said to be exhausted
The exhausted cat ion exchange column is regenerated by passing a solution of Diluted HCL
or Dilute H2SO4. The regeneration can be represented as,
R2Ca2+ + 2H+  2RH+ + Ca2+

The exhausted anions exchange column is regenerated by passing a solution of diluted NaoH.
The regeneration can be represented as,
R’2SO42- + 2OH-  2R’OH- + SO42-

Figure 6.4 Ion-exchange process

Advantages:
 Process used to soften highly acidic or alkaline water.
 It produces water of very low hardness.
Disadvantage:
 The equipment is costly.
 If water contains turbidity out-out of the process is reduced.

Internal treatment
In this process, an ion is prohibited to exhibit its original character by converting it into other
more soluble salt by adding appropriate reagent. An internal treatment is accomplished by
adding a proper chemical to the boiler water either to precipitate the scale forming impurities
in the form of sludge, which can be removed by blow down operations, or to convert them
into compounds, which will stay in dissolved form in water and they do not cause any harm.
Important Internal treatment methods are:

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a) Colloidal conditioning:
In low pressure boilers, scale formation can be avoided by adding organic substances like
Kerosene, tannin, agar-Agar etc. which get coated over the scale firming precipitates, there
by yielding coated non sticky and loose deposits
b) Phosphate conditioning:
In High pressure boilers, scale formation can be avoided by adding sodium phosphate which
reacts with hardness of water forming non- adherent and easily removable soft sludge
3CaCl2+2Na3PO4 Ca2(PO4) 2+6NaCl
The main phosphates employed are (a) NaH2PO4 (b) Na2HPO4 (c) Na3PO4
c) Carbonate Conditioning:
In low pressure boilers, scale formation can be avoided by adding sodium carbonate to boiler
water, then caSo4 converted into Caco3 in equipment Caco3 forms loose sludge
CaSO4+Na2CO3CaCO3+ Na2SO4
d) Calgon Conditioning:
Involves in adding calgon [(NaPO3)6] to boiler water then it forms soluble complex compound
with caso4
Na2[Na4(PO3) 6] -2Na++ [Na4P6O18]2-
2CaSO4 + [Na4P6O18]2- [CaP6O18] +2
4. Reverse Osmosis Process
Reverse Osmosis is a technology that is used to remove a large majority of contaminants from
water by pushing the water under pressure through a semi--‐permeable membrane.
Osmosis
Osmosis is a naturally occurring phenomenon and one of the most important processes in
nature. It is a process where a weaker saline solution will tend to migrate to a strong saline
solution.
A solution that is less concentrated will have a natural tendency to migrate to a solution with
a higher concentration. For example, if you had a container full of water with a low salt
concentration and another container full of water with a high salt concentration and they
were separated by a semi--‐permeable membrane, then the water with the lower salt
concentration would begin to migrate towards the water container with the higher salt
concentration.
A semi-permeable membrane is a membrane that will allow some atoms or molecules to pass
but not others. A simple example is a screen door which allows air molecules to pass through
but not pests or anything larger than the holes in the screen door.

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Figure 6.5 Osmosis Process

Reverse Osmosis
Reverse Osmosis is the process of Osmosis in reverse. Whereas Osmosis occurs naturally
without energy required, to reverse the process of osmosis we need to apply energy to the
more saline solution. A reverse osmosis membrane is a semi--‐permeable membrane that
allows the passage of water molecules but not the majority of dissolved salts, organics,
bacteria and pyrogens. However, we need to ‘push’ the water through the reverse osmosis
membrane by applying pressure that is greater than the naturally occurring osmotic pressure
in order to desalinate (demineralize or deionize) water in the process, allowing pure water
through while holding back a majority of contaminants.
Following Figure shows the process of Reverse Osmosis. When pressure is applied to the
concentrated solution, the water molecules are forced through the semi‐permeable
membrane and the contaminants are not allowed through.

Figure 6.6 Reverse Osmosis Process

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Working
Reverse osmosis works by using a high pressure pump to increase the pressure on the salt
side of the RO and force the water across the semi-permeable RO membrane, leaving almost
all (around 95% to 99%) of dissolved salts behind in the reject stream. The amount of pressure
required depends on the salt concentration of the feed water. The more concentrated the
feed water, the more pressure is required to overcome the osmotic pressure.
In very simple terms, feed water is pumped into a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system and we end
up with two types of water coming out of the RO system: good water and bad water. The
good water that comes out of an RO system has the majority of contaminants removed and
is called permeate. Permeate is the water that was pushed through the RO membrane and
contains very little contaminants.

Figure 6.7 RO Pumping Process

The ‘bad’ water is the water that contains all of the contaminants that were unable to pass
through the RO membrane and is known as the concentrate, reject, or brine. All three terms
(concentrate, reject, and brine) are used interchangeably and mean the same thing.
Figure 6.7 shows how an RO system works. As the feed water enters the RO membrane under
pressure (enough pressure to overcome osmotic pressure) the water molecules pass through
the semi--‐permeable membrane and the salts and other contaminants are not allowed to
pass and are discharged through the concentrate stream, which goes to drain or can be fed
back into the feed water supply in some circumstances to be recycled through the RO system
to save water. The water that makes it through the RO membrane is called permeate or
product water and usually has around 95% to 99% of the Dissolved salts removed from it.

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