Impact of Tertiary Treatment Processes on the Effectiveness of Chloramination for Biological Growth Control in Recirculating Cooling Systems Using Treated Municipal Wastewater
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
Adequate biocide addition is the key to control biological growth-related problems in recirculating cooling systems of thermoelectric power plants. The use of monochloramine (MCA) as the primary biocide is as effective as the use of free-chlorine in cooling systems using secondary-treated municipal wastewater (MWW) as the sole makeup water source. However, severe scaling caused by the secondary effluent necessitates incorporation of an additional treatment of secondary effluent (i.e., tertiary treatment) prior to use as makeup water for recirculating cooling systems. In the research reported in this paper, the effectiveness of MCA as a cooling-system biocide was evaluated for three types of tertiary-treated MWW, as follows: (1) acidification, (2) nitrification and sand filtration, and (3) nitrification, sand filtration, and granular activated-carbon adsorption. The impact of these tertiary treatment processes on chloramination was studied in both laboratory and pilot-scale experiments. For the third type of MWW treatment, reducing the total organic carbon (TOC) content in MWW exerted a 37% decrease in biological growth potential but less than a 5% decrease in biological growth rate. A MCA residual of was required to achieve biological-growth control objectives with respect to planktonic and sessile heterotrophic bacteria in cooling systems regardless of the tertiary treatment employed. Legionella analyses indicated that chloramination was effective in controlling proliferation of these species for all tertiary-treated wastewaters. Overall, preformed MCA was effective as a primary biocide in all tertiary-treated MWW evaluated in the research reported in this paper. Nitrification followed by sand filtration was the optimal tertiary treatment among the three investigated MWW because the biological-control objectives could be achieved with lower doses. The use of granular activated-carbon adsorption revealed no additional benefit compared to nitrification and sand filtration.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was supported by the U.S. DOE, National Energy Technology Laboratory, grant numbers DE-FC26-06NT42722 and DE-NT0006550. The views and opinions of the writers expressed in this paper do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. government or any agency of the U.S. government. The writers thank Dr. Jason D. Monnell, Dr. Mahbuboor R. Choudhury, and Dr. Ranjani Theregowda for helpful suggestions in the course of the research reported in this paper. The writers gratefully acknowledge the Franklin Township Municipal Sanitary Authority, and especially manager Mr. James Brucker, for allowing and supporting the performance of the pilot-scale cooling tower tests at their facility.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
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© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 8, 2013
Accepted: Sep 19, 2013
Published online: Sep 21, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 8, 2014
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