Conditioning chemicals

When Veolia Environmental CHOCOLATE MOULDS Services required a specialist conditioning chemical supplier for the boiler water at its Tyseley energy recovery facility it turned to ELGA Process Water for help. The plant incinerates 350,000t of Birmingham's non-recyclable rubbish each year and exports 25MW of electricity to the National Grid, enough to power 41,000+ homes.

The facility has two 45bar 400°C water tube boilers delivering 67t/h of steam to the high pressure turbines. It also has a 10bar waste heat shell boiler fuelled by a clinical waste incinerator, and this supplies steam to a low pressure turbine.

To maximise efficiency, the quality of the water fed to the boilers has to be carefully controlled. Tyseley produces high purity deionised water on site and adds chemicals to scavenge oxygen and adjust the pH to prevent corrosion.

The combination of two types of boiler with common feed water and condensate systems meant that controlling the boiler water chemistry at Tyseley required a specialist solution.

ELGA Process Water, a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies company, carried out a survey with technical support from its boiler competence centre. A solution was developed which included chemicals from its Hydrex range to provide protection of the boilers, turbines and condensate system, as well as recommendations for regular service support to maintain ongoing boiler efficiency and optimal performance.