B.C.’s Saltworks Technologies has announced that it successfully concluded a sixty-day on-site pilot at a major US coal fired power plant treating flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater.
The project achieved 100 per cent up-time during the pilot period. Treating the FGD wastewater required selectively removing chlorides for recycle and re-use internal to the coal stack scrubber system. By targeting the key concern—chlorides—this selective removal method provides an alternative to expensive complex treatments for discharge.
The pilot included a full scale Saltworks’ Flex EDR Selective Stack, which acts as a chloride kidney, as the company describes it. Within the stack, Saltworks’ novel monovalent selective anion exchange membranes pull chlorides out of the FGD wastewater under a DC electric field.
Outside of stack, a robotized plant enables the process while adjusting to variable water quality and providing valuable data to the operator. Saltworks intends to present the results from its pilot at future conferences or selectively to those who wish to make contact with the company.
The pilot project was made possible through collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (Award Number DE-FE0031678), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Southern Company. Flex EDR technology was also developed with support from the National Research Council Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), BC Innovative Clean Energy Fund, Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).
To contact Saltworks, e-mail [email protected], or visit the company’s website at https://www.saltworkstech.com/.
