Reagent-Free Water Treatment in the Domestic Power Industry: A Myth or a Reality?

Technologies aimed at reducing the consumption of reagents and the environmental impact resulting from the operation of water-treatment equipment in the domestic power industry are analyzed. Attention is focused on the specifics of the reagents' application in membrane-separation technologies. It is noted that the membrane technologies used for water treatment frequently involve the necessity of applying chemical reagents, the ingress of which into the sewage makes the utilization of the latter more difficult and increases the environmental impacts. A conclusion about the impossibility of completely abandoning reagents for water treatment has been made. A method for the environmentally friendly, reagent-free operation of membrane-separation plants has been devised and its viability has been proven by an example of a pilot nanofiltration water-treatment unit for the heat-supply system operating with a water of the potable quality. Approaches have been outlined that allow a reduction in the water-treatment costs of thermal power plants using integrated membrane technologies and/or their combinations with ion exchange. Despite the fact that there is no possibility of completely abandoning reagents for water treatment in common cases, membrane-separation technologies currently constitute the basis for engineering solutions that allow a reduction in the water-treatment costs and even the implementation of reagent-free techniques in particular cases.