Case Study: TERNA (Italy)
Case Details:
- Sector: Electricity supplier
- Purpose: Scaling in the evaporator condensers
- Installation: 1x8 UET-standard reactor set
- Customer: Terna
UET helping to illuminate the Italian countryside
| Project field: Cooling tower water treatment
Project Start Date: 2016 |
| Terna manages the Italian transmission grid, one of the most modern and technologically advanced in Europe.
“We [Terna] will invest 4 billion euro in the next five years to promote the integration of renewable sources and to meet society’s demands for a secure electricity supply. “ |
| COOLING TOWER SYSTEM
4 x Cooling towers of 60 m3/h
UET REACTOR SIZING 1 x (1×8) UET-STD reactors
MAKE UP SOURCE 100% reused water |
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| The UET unit treating 4 cooling towers on site | |
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| The picture above was taken before the UET start-up, showing the evaporator condenser tubes that were constantly full of scale. The scale sedimentation prevented the water in the cooling tower to cool the tubes, so the customer suffered from constant stoppages. |
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| UET rectors full of scale before cleaning | UET reactors after scale was removed | |
WATER SAVINGS
The cycles of concentration rose from 1.7 before the UET start-up to 7.3 . Before UET, it averaged 9.25 m³/day. After UET, the make-up water has been recorded with an average of 7.26 m³/day – a 19% reduction.
Blow–down has been reduced from 2583 liters/day to 28 liters/day – an ALMOST 100% REDUCTION.
CHEMICAL ADDITIVES
100% chemical additive-free solution
SCALE REMOVAL
Total amount of wet scale collected during the last cleaning: 90 kg. No indications of scaling in the heat exchanger.
BIO-CONTAMINATION CONTROL
Free-chlorine has been detected and bio-contamination is under control.
MINERAL BALANCE AND SILICA REMOVAL
The water analysis data were obtained in reports from Terna. A significant reduction in the silica, alkalinity and total hardness values of the tower basin was observed, which proves the precipitation of excess minerals in the reactors.
CONCLUSIONS
Terna is another example of the ability of UET to stabilize the water. It was observed that the historical scale was pealing off of the condenser tubes, only with the use of UET, without adding any acid and manual cleaning.
By raising the cycles of concentration to 7.3 from 1.7, with close to 5000 μS/cm of conductivity, the customer was able to reduce 81% of the water consumption and 100% of chemical use.
Savings Table
