During the Water Crisis, Coal-Fired Power Plants Use Membrane Distillation Technology to Treat Wastewater
Main Article Content
Keywords
water resources, coal-fired power plants, wastewater treatment, membrane distillation technology
Abstract
The contradiction between the current situation of water shortage and the high-water consumption, high sewage discharge of coal-fired power plants is an urgent problem that needs to be improved in the traditional wastewater treatment process. As a new separation technology with high efficiency and energy saving, membrane distillation technology shows unique advantages in treating high-salt desulfurization wastewater. Based on this, this paper systematically sorts out China’s current situation in terms of water resources and the typical wastewater treatment process of coal-fired power plants today. Four membrane distillation technologies are analyzed: Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD), Air Gap Membrane Distillation (GMD), Vacuum Membrane Distillation (VMD), Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD), with their rationale and potential in desulfurization wastewater treatment. The results show that membrane distillation technology can achieve near-zero discharge and high quality of the produced water, the recovery rate can reach more than 90%. However, there are still uncertainties and performance differences in actual power plant applications. Membrane distillation technology also faces membrane pollution, high energy consumption, poor long-term operation stability, etc. Future work should focus on development and development of high-performance materials, optimize not only the integrated system but operation strategy. What’s more, vigorously promotes the application of membrane distillation technology in wastewater treatment of coal-fired power plants to help power plants achieve efficient water resource recycling and green and low-carbon transformation.
References
- Andrés-Mañas, J. A., Ruiz-Aguirre, A., Acién, F. and Zaragoza, G., (2018). Assessment of a pilot system for seawater desalination based on vacuum multi-effect membrane distillation with enhanced heat recovery. Desalination, vol. 443, pp. 110-121.
- Chandra Bhoumick, M., Paul, S., Roy, S. and Mitra, S., (2023). Selective recovery of ethyl acetate by air-sparged membrane distillation using carbon nanotube-immobilized membranes and process optimization via a response surface approach. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 3307-3314.
- Conidi, C., Macedonio, F., Ali, A., Cassano, A., Criscuoli, A., Argurio, P. and Drioli, E., (2018). Treatment of flue gas desulfurization wastewater by an integrated membrane-based process for approaching zero liquid discharge. Membranes, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 117.
- Eryildiz, B., Yuksekdag, A., Korkut, S. and Koyuncu, İ., (2021). Performance evaluation of boron removal from wastewater containing high boron content according to operating parameters by air gap membrane distillation. Environmental Technology & Innovation, vol. 22, p. 101493.
- Jia, F. and Wang, J., (2018). Treatment of flue gas desulfurization wastewater with near-zero liquid discharge by nanofiltration-membrane distillation process. Separation Science and Technology, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 146-153.
- Lee, S., Kim, Y. and Hong, S., (2018). Treatment of industrial wastewater produced by desulfurization process in a coal-fired power plant via FO-MD hybrid process. Chemosphere, vol. 210, pp. 44-51.
- Li, F., (2020). Application and research progresses of technologies for zero-discharge of desulfurization wastewater from coal-fired power plants. Technology of Water Treatment, vol. 46, no. 12, pp. 17-24.
- Liu, J. y., Jia, Y. j., Yang, F. l., Ren, L., Li, P., Wang, F. and Cheng, F. q., (2023). Research progress of zero liquid discharge pretreatment process for flue gas desulfurization wastewater from coal-fired power plants. Inorganic Chemicals Industry, vol. 55, no. 12, pp. 12-25.
- Liu, Q. S., (2014). Application and comparison of'zero discharge'technology for desulfurization waste water. Thermal Power Generation, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 114-117.
- Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China, (2022). National Water Resources Bulletin, Beijing: Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China.
- Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China, (2024). Water Resources Bulletin 2024, Beijing: Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China.
- National Bureau of Statistics, (2023). China Statistical Yearbook 2023, Beijing: China Statistics Press.
- Sharan, P., Yoon, T. J., Thakkar, H., Currier, R. P., Singh, R. and Findikoglu, A. T., (2022). Optimal design of multi-stage vacuum membrane distillation and integration with supercritical water desalination for improved zero liquid discharge desalination. Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 361, p. 132189.
- Sun, Z. Y. and Shen, M. Z., (2018). Case study on zero discharge engineering of desulphurization wastewater in coal-fired power plants. Industrial Water Treatment, vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 102-105.
- Wan, Y. G., Xu, F., Tian, X. F., Zhao, L. X. and Wang, X., (2017). Guodian Hanchuan Power Generation Company Limited desulfurization waste water evaporative crystallization project process analysis. Huadian Technology, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 74-76+80.
- Wang, Z. F., (2021). Research on the optimization of the zero discharge transformation scheme of wastewater in the whole thermal power plant:Take a power plant in Tianjin as an example. Master's Thesis, Shandong Jianzhu University.
- Xu, Z. Q., Zhao, Y. and Lu, M. N., (2020). Engineering case analysis of zero liquid discharge system of desulfurization wastewater in a power plant. Electric Power Technology and Environmental Protection, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 6-12.
- Yang, M., (2019). Pilot test research on zero discharge of desulfurization wastewater from coal-fired power plants. Master's Thesis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology.
Article Sidebar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.