Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Co-treating flue gas desulfurized effluent and produced water enables novel waste management and recovery of critical minerals

Journal Article · · Desalination
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)
  2. National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Herein this study reports a novel approach of resource recovery from co-managing two geographically co-located and chemically complementary wastewaters using a pilot-scale treatment process. Designed to treat flue gas desulfurized (FGD) effluent from combustion powerplants and produced water (PW) from energy industries, the process consists of soda-ash softening, nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). Recovered products are barite, calcite, and low-salinity water. Using field-collected waters, the results show that softening at pH 8.5 produces calcite (yield: 30 kg/m3 treated water), a chemical used as SO₂(g) scrubbers. NF treatment under an applied pressure of 3.5 MPa yields a permeate stream laden with monovalent ions (water recovery 60%) and a concentrate stream with a sulfate concentration 1.8 times of the feedwater concentration. Mixing the NF concentrate and PW at a volumetric ratio of 1.0 precipitates a high-density barite material (4.1 g/cm3, yield: ~7.5 kg/m3 mixture) – a critical mineral commonly used as a weighting agent in drilling. The RO treatment recovers >64% water as the permeate, which can be readily used as cooling make-up water at the powerplants. The RO concentrate stream can be further processed in a thermal evaporative system for additional water recovery and brine production.

Research Organization:
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FECM1611080
OSTI ID:
2454998
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2369178
Journal Information:
Desalination, Vol. 585; ISSN 0011-9164
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (19)

Estimates of lithium mass yields from produced water sourced from the Devonian-aged Marcellus Shale journal April 2024
Process development of flue gas desulphurization wastewater treatment in coal-fired power plants towards zero liquid discharge: Energetic, economic and environmental analyses journal July 2020
Power Generation: Feedstock for High-Value Sulfate Minerals journal February 2020
Water footprint of thermal power in China: Implications from the high amount of industrial water use by plant infrastructure of coal-fired generation system journal September 2019
Status of Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) systems from coal-fired power plants: Overview of the physic-chemical control processes of wet limestone FGDs journal March 2015
Standard Water Treatment Techniques and Their Applicability to Oil and Gas Produced Brines of Varied Compositions book March 2022
Geochemistry and Microbiology Predict Environmental Niches With Conditions Favoring Potential Microbial Activity in the Bakken Shale journal July 2020
Produced Water Treatment Technologies: An Overview book March 2022
Evaporation and concentration of desulfurization wastewater with waste heat from coal-fired power plants journal July 2019
Evaporation and crystallization of a droplet of desulfurization wastewater from a coal-fired power plant journal June 2017
Precipitation of Magnesium Hydroxide from Brine journal January 1995
Retrofitting the Regulated Power Plant: Optimizing Energy Allocation to Electricity Generation, Water Treatment, and Carbon Capture Processes at Coal-Fired Generating Facilities journal December 2017
Alternative Approach to Current EU BAT Recommendation for Coal-Fired Power Plant Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater Treatment journal November 2018
Study on emission of hazardous trace elements in a 350 MW coal-fired power plant. Part 1. Mercury journal October 2017
Zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) technology for resource recovery from wastewater: A review journal September 2019
Factors controlling Li concentration and isotopic composition in formation waters and host rocks of Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin journal January 2016
Critical mineral source potential from oil & gas produced waters in the United States journal June 2024
Treatment of Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater by an Integrated Membrane-Based Process for Approaching Zero Liquid Discharge journal November 2018
Barite as an industrial mineral in Nigeria: occurrence, utilization, challenges and future prospects journal June 2021

Similar Records

Related Subjects

flue gas desulfurized effluent
produced water
co-treatment
critical mineral
sustainable waste management
zero liquid discharge