AWWA WQTC65876

This paper discusses process considerations and the required equipment needed to treat poor quality groundwaters using reverse osmosis and ion exchange for high-purity process waters at an industrial facility. The information provided would be pertinent to industries and utilities that are facing the dual issues of increasing water demands and ever poorer-quality water sources. Two ethanol facilities in the Upper Midwest are being sited in areas where the sole source of waters at both sites is a groundwater which contains upwards of 1,000 mg/L sulfate, 1,200 mg/L hardness, 440 mg/L alkalinity, and 4 mg/L TOC. The facilities require treating 1.1 MGD of this groundwater into process water to produce the ethanol itself, high-purity boiler feed water, and cooling tower make-up. The quantity of water and treatment processes necessary to meet the facility demands is evaluated for these two examples where the water quality was poor and compared to an example where the raw water available was of much better quality. Includes tables, figures.