UPGRADED TECHNOLOGIES FOR BOILER FEED WATER

Abstract

Boiler Feed Water needs to meet specific standards according to the ASME Standards for Boiler Feed Water, to produce steam that is utilized at different locations in the Attock Oil Refinery Limited (ARL). The project aims to replace the cation exchange system for boiler feed water, at an oil refinery, with upgraded technologies such as UF (Ultrafiltration) and RO (Reverse Osmosis) systems in series, to increase the boiler cycles, boiler efficiency, life of the boilers and for the overall conservation of water. Material and Energy balances, equipment design and economic analysis were done for both the systems in order to compare the effluent quality for both the Cation Exchange and RO (Reverse Osmosis) Technologies [1]. As a result of the proposed methodology, the Boiler Feed Water (BFW) quality increases significantly in terms of the TDS concentration reduced due to which the boiler efficiency and boiler-cycles increase [2]. Although it was seen that the installation and production cost of the proposed RO system was higher, in terms of the boiler maintenance and blow down treatment cost, over all the proposed system becomes more cost efficient as well. Proposed technology is more sustainable in terms of green process engineering where the use of hazardous chemicals such as H2SO4 and NaCl is eliminated. The project follows the SDGs 6, 9, 12 and 14 which are mainly related to the clean water and sanitation, sustainability, and Industry and Innovation [3].