(12) United States Patent 

Duesel, Jr. et al. 

US008585869B1 

US 8,585,869 B1 

Nov. 19, 2013 

(10) Patent N0.: 

(45) Date of Patent: 

(54) 

(71) 

(72) 

(73) 

(*) 

(21) 

(22) 

(51) 

(52) 

(58) 

MULTI-STAGE WASTEWATER TREATMENT 

SYSTEM 

Applicant: Heartland Technology Partners LLC, 

St Louis, MO (US) 

Inventors: Bernard F. Duesel, Jr., Goshen, NY 

(US); Craig Clerkin, Stoughton, WI 

(Us) 

Assignee: Heartland Technology Partners LLC, 

St Louis, MO (US) 

Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 

patent is extended or adjusted under 35 

U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. 

Appl. No.: 13/762,004 

Filed: Feb. 7, 2013 

Int. Cl. 

B01D 3/00 (2006.01) 

B01D 1/14 (2006.01) 

C02F 1/04 (2006.01) 

C02F 1/16 (2006.01) 

C02F 9/00 (2006.01) 

U.s. c1. 

USPC ........... .. 203/12; 202/233; 202/235; 202/162; 

203/79; 159/16.1;159/29; 159/38; 159/473; 

210/805; 210/167.32; 210/180; 210/194; 

261/151; 261/77; 261/120; 261/121.1 

Field of Classi?cation Search 

USPC ......... .. 159/16.1, 16.2, 29, 32, 38, 47.1, 47.3; 

202/163, 167, 233, 235; 203/10, 12, 

203/79; 210/774, 805, 167.01, 167.32, 180, 

210/194; 261/138, 140.1, 151, 159, 77, 

261/120, 121.1; 95/160, 161, 165; 96/234, 

96/242 

See application ?le for complete search history. 

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(Continued) 

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(Continued) 

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“Gas AtomiZed Venturi Scrubbers,” Bionomic Industries, copyright 

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(Continued) 

Primary Examiner * Nina Bhat 

Assistant Examiner * Jonathan Miller 

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm * Marshall, Gerstein & Borun 

LLP 

(57) ABSTRACT 

Methods, systems, and/ or apparatuses for treating WasteWater 

produced at a thermoelectric poWer plant, other industrial 

plants, and/or other industrial sources are disclosed. The 

WasteWater is directed through a WasteWater concentrator 

including a direct contact adiabatic concentration system. A 

stream of hot feed gases is directed through the WasteWater 

concentrator. The WasteWater concentrator mixes the hot feed 

gases directly With the WasteWater and evaporates Water vapor 

from the WasteWater. The WasteWater concentrator separates 

the Water vapor from remaining concentrated WasteWater. A 

contained air-Water interface liquid evaporator may be 

arranged to pre-process the WasteWater before being treated 

by the WasteWater concentrator. 

19 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets 

Exhaust 

Vapor 

14 6O 

Evaporation Zone 

Solids to Disosal 
US 8,585,869 B1 

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Farmer-Friendly Sludges are Gaining Popularity,” Water Bulletin, 

708 (1996). 

St. Onge et al., “Start-Up, Testing, and Performance of the First 

Bulb-Type Hydroelectric Project in The USA,” IEEE Transactions 

on Power Apparatus Systems, PAS-101(6):1313-1321 (1982). 

SWaminathan et a1 ., “Some Aerodynamic Aspects of Spouted Beds of 

Grains,” Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 

Montreal, Quebec, Canada, pp. 197-204 (2007). 

Talbert et al., “The Elecro spouted Bed,” IEEE Transactions on Indus 

try Applications, vol. 1A-20, No. 5, pp. 1220-1223 (1984). 

US. Of?ce Action for US. Appl. No. 12/530,484, dated Apr. 16, 

2013. 

US. Of?ce Action for US. Appl. No. 12/846,337, dated Apr. 17, 

2013. 

Williams et al., “Aspects of Submerged Combustion as a Heat 

Exchange Method,” Trans IChemE, 71(A):308-309 (1993). 

Written Opinion for Application No. PCT/US2010/024143, dated 

Oct. 12, 2010. 

Written Opinion for Application No. PCT/US2012/021897, dated 

Sep. 28, 2012. 

Ye et al., “Removal and Distribution of Iron, Manganese, Cobalt, and 

Nickel Within a Pennsylvania Constructed Wetland Treating Coal 

Combustion By-Product Leachate,” J'. Environ. Qual., 30: 1464- 1473 

(2001). 

Yeh et al., “Double-Pass Heat or Mass Transfer Through a Parallel 

Plate Channel With Recycle,” International Journal of Hat and Mass 

Transfer, 43:487-491 (2000). 

Yo shino et al., “Removal and Recovery of Pho sphate and Ammonium 

as Struvite from Supernatant in Anaerobic Digestion,” Water Science 

and Technology, 48(1): 171-178 (2003). 

* cited by examiner 

US. Patent Nov. 19, 2013 Sheet 2 of7 US 8,585,869 B1 

Hot Gas Exhaust 

Vapor 19 58 14 6O 

/ l 

I [\ 17 , / 

Waste \ Evaporation Entrainment] 22 (20 

Water I , Zone Separator J 

|/ 16 ‘ 

LM-HT Concentrator 

Solid/Liquid 26 

Separator 

8O 

FIG. 2 

US. Patent Nov. 19, 2013 Sheet 4 of7 US 8,585,869 B1 

FIG. 4 
US. Patent Nov. 19, 2013 Sheet 5 of7 US 8,585,869 B1 
US. Patent Nov. 19, 2013 Sheet 6 of7 US 8,585,869 B1 

FIG. 6 
US. Patent Nov. 19, 2013 Sheet 7 of7 US 8,585,869 B1 
US 8,585,869 B1 

1 

MULTI-STAGE WASTEWATER TREATMENT 

SYSTEM 

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 

The present invention relates generally to methods, sys 

tems, and/or apparatuses for treating WasteWater including a 

plurality of processing stages. 

BACKGROUND 

Thermoelectric poWer plants, including hydrocarbon-?red 

poWer plants, such as coal, oil, and/ or natural gas-?red poWer 

plants, and nuclear poWer plants, and other heavy industrial 

processes use very large amounts of Water for performing 

various processes and for providing ancillary function. Often, 

the Water is WithdraWn from the surrounding environment, 

such as a nearby stream or lake, and the Water is eventually 

returned to the stream or lake. 

A problem is that the Water often becomes contaminated 

With chemicals and/ or other Waste products from the indus 

trial process, thereby forming WasteWater. It is, therefore, 

often necessary to process this WasteWater to remove some or 

all of the contaminants prior to returning the WasteWater to the 

environment. 

One particular source of WasteWater often generated in a 

hydrocarbon-?red thermoelectric poWer plant is ?ue gas des 

ulfuriZation (“FGD”) purge Water, or “bloWdoWn”. FGD 

purge Water is a WasteWater or slurry containing sulfur and/or 

other chemicals removed from a stream of ?ue gases, i.e., 

exhaust gases from a boiler or other hydrocarbon-fuel com 

bustion process. FGD purge Water is a byproduct of a ?ue gas 

desulfuriZation system, in Which sulfur and other contami 

nants are removed from a ?oW of ?ue gases, usually in a 

component called an absorber. In the absorber, sulfur and/or 

other contaminants are removed from the ?ue gases, usually 

by spraying a stream of ?ue gases With a Water-based slurry 

carrying various chemicals designed to help remove the sul 

fur and/ or other contaminants from the gases. The slurry is 

collected after being sprayed into the stream of ?ue gas and 

typically is recycled many times through the absorber. FGD 

purge Water is a WasteWater stream that is draWn off of the 

slurry as the buildup of sulfur and/or other contaminants in 

the slurry increases, for example, to maintain the total dis 

solved solids (“TDS”) in the slurry Within some preselected 

range or under some preselected upper limit. 

Another source of WasteWater often generated in electrical 

poWer plants and other industrial plants is cooling toWer 

purge Water, or “bloWdoWn.” Similar to the FGD purge Water, 

cooling toWer purge Water is WasteWater containing dissolved 

solids that is draWn off of a supply of Water used for cooling 

exhaust gases, usually to maintain the TDS in the cooling 

Water Within or under some preselected range or limits. 

A further source of WasteWater often generated in poWer 

plants is service Water, Which is used to cool various heat 

exchangers or coolers in the poWer house or elseWhere, other 

than the main condenser. As With the FGD purge Water and 

the cooling toWer purge Water, the service Water usually accu 

mulates dissolved solids, the levels of Which usually need to 

be controlled. 

The service Water, FGD purge Water, and cooling toWer 

purge Water usually need to be treated to remove some or all 

of the dissolved solids before being returned to the environ 

ment or recycled for further use Within the industrial plant. 

SUMMARY 

According to some aspects, one or more methods, systems, 

and/ or apparatuses are disclosed for treating WasteWater at a 

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65 

2 

thermoelectric poWer plant With a WasteWater concentrator 

including a direct contact adiabatic concentration system 

prior to returning the Water to the surrounding environment or 

recycling the Water for further use Within the poWer plant. The 

methods, systems, and apparatuses may be applied to other 

processes that produce a stream of WasteWater containing 

sulfur or other sour gas, for example, petrochemical re?neries 

and/or natural gas processing plants. 

According to other aspects, one or more methods, systems, 

and/or apparatus are disclosed for treating WasteWater in a 

multi-stage treatment system, Wherein a ?rst stage includes a 

liquid evaporator operatively disposed in a reservoir of Waste 

Water, and a second stage includes a WasteWater concentrator 

operatively connected to the reservoir to receive WasteWater 

from the reservoir. The multi-stage treatment system can be 

used as part of the systems for treating WasteWater at a ther 

moelectric poWer plant, but is not limited to use in the ther 

moelectric poWer plant. 

According to one exemplary aspect, a WasteWater treat 

ment system for a thermoelectric poWer plant includes a 

stream of WasteWater generated in a thermoelectric poWer 

plant that is directed through a WasteWater concentrator 

implementing a direct contact adiabatic WasteWater concen 

trator system. A stream of hot feed gases is simultaneously 

directed through the WasteWater concentrator. The WasteWa 

ter concentrator mixes the hot feed gases directly With the 

WasteWater and evaporates Water from the WasteWater to form 

Water vapor and concentrated WasteWater. The WasteWater 

concentrator separates the Water vapor from the concentrated 

WasteWater. The WasteWater concentrator exhausts discharge 

gases, including the Water vapor and some or all of the feed 

gases. The discharge gases may be exhausted to atmosphere 

or to another component for further processing, recovery, or 

use. The remaining concentrated WasteWater, or discharge 

brine, may be recycled through the WasteWater concentrator 

for further concentrating and/or directed for further process 

ing, recovery, and/or disposal. 

According to another exemplary aspect, a method of pro 

cessing WasteWater from a thermoelectric poWer plant With a 

WasteWater concentrator implementing a direct contact adia 

batic WasteWater concentrator system is disclosed. The poWer 

plant includes a source of WasteWater and a source of hot feed 

gases. The method includes the steps of receiving a stream of 

the hot feed gases into the WasteWater concentrator, receiving 

feed WasteWater including the WasteWater through a conduit 

from the thermoelectric poWer plant into the WasteWater con 

centrator, mixing the hot feed gases directly With the feed 

WasteWater in the WasteWater concentrator to evaporate Water 

vapor from the feed WasteWater, separating the Water vapor 

from the feed WasteWater in the WasteWater concentrator to 

form concentrated discharge brine and discharge gases, and 

exhausting the discharge gases from the WasteWater concen 

trator. 

According to a further exemplary aspect, a thermoelectric 

poWer plant includes thermoelectric generator, such as a 

boiler for generating steam to turn a turbine operatively con 

nected to a generator for producing electricity and/or a gas 

turbine, a WasteWater concentrator having a direct contact 

adiabatic WasteWater concentrator system, a source of Waste 

Water operatively connected to the WasteWater concentrator to 

supply feed WasteWater to the WasteWater concentrator, and a 

source of hot feed gases operatively connected to the Waste 

Water concentrator to supply the hot feed gases to the Waste 

Water concentrator. The WasteWater concentrator mixes the 

hot feed gases directly With the feed WasteWater, evaporates 

Water vapor from the feed WasteWater, separates the Water 

vapor from the feed WasteWater thereby forming discharge 
US 8,585,869 B1 

3 

brine and discharge gases, exhausts the discharge gases to 

atmosphere and/or another process component, and provides 

the discharge brine for further processing and/or disposal 

separate from the discharge gases. 

In further accordance With any one or more of the forego 

ing exemplary aspects, a system, apparatus, and/or method 

for treating poWer plant WasteWater and/or a multi-stage 

WasteWater treatment system further optionally may include 

any one or more of the folloWing preferred forms. 

In some preferred forms, the WasteWater includes purge 

Water, service Water, leachate, and/ or holding reservoir Water 

from the poWer plant. The purge Water may include ?ue gas 

desulfuriZation purge Water from the ?ue gas desulfuriZation 

system and/ or purge Water from a cooling toWer. 

In some preferred forms, the thermoelectric poWer plant 

includes a boiler having a hydrocarbon ?red combustion 

heater for generating the steam, a ?rst stream of ?ue gas from 

the combustion heater, and a ?ue gas desulfuriZation system. 

The ?ue gas desulfuriZation system may be operatively con 

nected to the ?rst stream of ?ue gas from the combustion 

heater. The ?ue gas desulfuriZation system may be arranged 

to remove sulfur and/ or other contaminants from the ?ue gas, 

such as With an absorber, and to generate ?ue gas desulfur 

iZation purge Water. The combustion heater may be hydrocar 

bon-?red, for example, With coal, oil, and/ or natural gas. The 

WasteWater concentrator may be operatively connected to the 

?ue gas desulfuriZation system to receive feed WasteWater 

including the ?ue gas desulfuriZation purge Water. In some 

forms, the thermoelectric poWer plant includes other types of 

thermoelectric generators, such as a gas turbine. The gas 

turbine may be used, for example, alone as a primary electric 

generation plant and/ or as a peak shaving or backup electric 

generation plant in combination With other types of thermo 

electric generators. 

In some forms, the thermoelectric poWer plant includes a 

cooling toWer. The cooling toWer generates the cooling toWer 

purge Water. The WasteWater concentrator may be operatively 

connected to the cooling toWer to receive feed WasteWater 

including the cooling toWer purge Water. 

In some forms, the thermoelectric poWer plant generates 

service Water. The WasteWater concentrator may be opera 

tively connected to a source of the service Water to receive 

feed WasteWater including the service Water for concentra 

tion. 

In some forms, the WasteWater concentrator may be opera 

tively connected With a source of poWer plant leachate such 

that the poWer plant leachate is supplied to the WasteWater 

concentrator for concentration. 

In some preferred forms, the WasteWater concentrator may 

be operatively connected With a holding reservoir such that 

Water from the holding reservoir is supplied to the WasteWater 

concentrator for concentration. 

In some preferred forms, the hot feed gases include hot 

exhaust gases or other Waste heat from one or more other 

processes Within the poWer plant. The hot feed gases may be 

draWn from the ?rst stream of ?ue gas, such as With a slip 

stream, from heated air from a combustion air pre-heater for 

the combustion heater, and/ or include other hot gas streams. 

The hot feed gases may be pulled from the ?rst stream at a 

temperature of betWeen approximately 150° F. and approxi 

mately 800° F. The slip stream may draW from the ?rst stream 

after the ?rst stream has passed through a combustion air 

pre-heater for pre-heating combustion air for a burner. The 

slip stream may draW from the ?rst stream before the ?rst 

stream reaches the ?ue gas desulfuriZation system. The com 

bustion heater may include any one or more of a coal-?red 

boiler, an internal combustion engine, a turbine stack, and 

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45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

4 

other combustion devices. The boiler may include a boiler for 

producing feed steam for a turbine for an electric generator. 

In some preferred forms, the hot feed gases are draWn from 

heated air produced by the combustion air pre-heater. The 

heated air from the combustion air pre-heater optionally may 

be further heated before being provided as hot feed gases, for 

example, With a ?are or a burner. 

In some preferred forms, the hot feed gases are direct ?red 

by a ?are or burner. The ?are or burner may be dedicated for 

heating the hot feed gases to be provided to the WasteWater 

concentrator. 

In some preferred forms, the hot feed gases are draWn from 

standby generation equipment, such as a standby gas turbine, or other peak shaving generation devices. 

In some preferred forms, the hot feed gases are draWn from 

a plurality of different sources of heated air, including any one 

or more of the sources described herein. 

In some preferred forms, the WasteWater concentrator 

includes a device that mixes and evaporates the WasteWater 

directly into the hot exhaust gases, such as a venturi evapo 

ration device or draft tube evaporation. The WasteWater con 

centrator may include any one or any combination of cross 

?oW gas-liquid separators, cyclonic gas-liquid separators, or 

Wet electrostatic precipitators. The WasteWater concentrator 

may be permanently installed in the electrical poWer plant. 

The WasteWater concentrator may be portable and tempo 

rarily installed in the electrical poWer plant. 

In some preferred forms that form a multi-stage WasteWater 

treatment system the WasteWater may be pre-processed at a 

?rst stage by additional WasteWater processing systems prior 

to being provided for processing as feed WasteWater in the 

WasteWater concentrator at a second stage. The pre-process 

ing may include a liquid evaporator operatively disposed in a 

reservoir of WasteWater to evaporate at least some Water from 

the WasteWater prior to providing the WasteWater to the Waste 

Water concentrator. The reservoir may receive WasteWater 

from the poWerplant, such as by one or more supply conduits. 

The reservoir may be operatively connected to the WasteWater 

concentrator by one or more additional discharge conduits. 

The WasteWater may ?oW into the reservoir from one or more 

processes in the poWer plant via the supply conduits. The 

WasteWater may ?oW from the reservoir to the WasteWater 

concentrator via the discharge conduits. The liquid evapora 

tor is preferably connected to a source of forced air and 

vigorously mixes a discontinuous gas phase With a continu 

ous phase of WasteWater inside a partially enclosed vessel, 

such as by forming bubbles of air in a mass of the WasteWater. 

The forced air may be heated, for example, by Waste heat 

sources Within the poWer plant, such ?ue gas or other Waste 

heat sources. The liquid evaporator may pre-process the 

WasteWater to provide a more concentrated feed WasteWater 

to the WasteWater concentrator than by simply the WasteWater 

directly from the various processes in the poWer plant as feed 

WasteWater. The combination of a liquid evaporator used at a 

?rst stage to pre-process feed WasteWater for the WasteWater 

concentrator at a second stage may be implemented in other 

use environments in addition to the thermoelectric poWer 

plant of the examples. 

In some preferred forms, the concentrated discharge brine 

produced by the WasteWater concentrator is post-processed 

by additional processing systems and/or methods. The dis 

charge brine may be de-Watered in a post-treatment process. 

Liquid removed from the discharge brine in the post-treat 

ment process may be recycled to the WasteWater concentrator 

to be processed again. 

In some preferred forms, an electrostatic precipitator 

(ESP), Wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP), and/or a bag 
US 8,585,869 B1 

5 

?lter is operatively connected to the ?rst stream of ?ue gas or 

the slip stream of ?ue gas. The ESP, WESP, or bag ?lter may 

be arranged to remove ?y ash and/ or other contaminates from 

the ?ue gas before the ?ue gas enters the WasteWater concen 

trator. 

In some preferred forms, the discharge gases exhausted 

from the WasteWater concentrator are conducted to one or 

more additional emissions control systems for further pro 

cessing prior to release to atmosphere. The discharge gases 

from the WasteWater concentrator may be heated or re-heated 

before returning to the plant’s exhaust stream. The discharge 

gases may be heated or re-heated With any, or any combina 

tion of burners, electric heaters, or other streams of heated 

gases. The discharge gases may be heated above an acid-gas 

condensation temperature. The discharge gases may be 

returned to the ?ue gas desulfuriZation system. The discharge 

gases may also or alternatively be exhausted directly to atmo 

sphere Without further processing or recapture. 

Other aspects and forms Will become apparent upon con 

sideration of the folloWing detailed description and in vieW of 

the appended claims. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary hydrocar 

bon-?red thermoelectric poWer plant including a system for 

treating WasteWater generated by the plant according to some 

aspects of the present disclosure; 

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system for 

treating plant WasteWater usable in the poWer plant of FIG. 1; 

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the exemplary system of 

FIG. 2 With additional optional features shoWn; 

FIG. 4 is an isometric partial cut-aWay vieW of an exem 

plary WasteWater concentrator adaptable for use in any one of 

the systems of FIGS. 1-3; 

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional vieW of pre-processing equip 

ment in accordance With teachings of the present disclosure 

including a liquid evaporator operatively disposed in a reser 

voir; 

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional vieW of pre-processing equip 

ment in accordance With teachings of the present disclosure 

including another liquid evaporator operatively disposed in a 

reservoir; and 

FIG. 7 is a side elevation vieW of another liquid evaporator 

usable in a reservoir as pre-processing equipment. 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 

Turning noW to the draWings, FIG. 1 shoWs an exemplary 

WasteWater treatment system 10 for treating poWer plant 

WasteWater at a thermoelectric poWer plant 12. The system 10 

includes a WasteWater concentrator 14. The WasteWater con 

centrator 14 is operatively connected, such as through a con 

duit 16, to a stream of WasteWater produced by one or more 

processes Within the thermoelectric poWer plant 12 at a ?rst 

inlet 17. The WasteWater concentrator 14 is also operatively 

connected, such as through a conduit 18, to a stream of hot 

feed gases at a second inlet 19. The WasteWater concentrator 

14 includes a direct contact adiabatic concentration system, 

Wherein the WasteWater concentrator 14 mixes a stream of the 

hot feed gases from the conduit 18 directly With a stream of 

the WasteWater from the conduit 16 and evaporates Water 

from the WasteWater to form Water vapor and concentrated 

WasteWater. The WasteWater concentrator 14 separates the 

Water vapor from remaining concentrated WasteWater from 

the feed WasteWater. The WasteWater concentrator 14 

exhausts discharge gases, including the Water vapor and some 

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60 

65 

6 or all of the noW-cooled feed gases, in a stream of exhaust 

vapor, such as through a conduit 20, from an exhaust outlet 

22. The discharge gases may be exhausted to atmosphere, to 

the plant exhaust system, such as through a gas ?ue exhaust 

stack 40, or to another component (not shoWn) for further 

processing, recovery, or use. The WasteWater concentrator 14 

discharges a discharge brine of the concentrated WasteWater 

through a brine discharge outlet 24 that is preferably opera 

tively connected With a conduit 25 arranged to transport the 

discharge brine aWay from the WasteWater concentrator 14. 

The conduit 25 optionally operatively connects the discharge 

brine outlet 24 to a post-processing system 26 for further 

processing of the discharge brine and/or disposal. In some 

arrangements, the brine discharge outlet 24 is also or altema 

tively operatively connected to the ?rst inlet 17 or a third inlet 

(not shoWn) to re-cycle the discharge brine through the Waste 

Water concentrator 14 for further processing and concentra 

tion. 

In a preferred arrangement, the system 10 results in Zero 

liquid discharge from the thermoelectric poWer plant 12. In 

this arrangement, discharge brine from the WasteWater con 

centrator 14 may be recycled through the WasteWater concen 

trator 14 until the discharge brine reaches a saturation level of 

TDS or even a super saturation level of TDS. The discharge 

brine may then be further processed by the post processing 

system 26, With one or more additional deWatering systems, 

and/or other Water and/or solids removal systems, for 

example using a compression-type de-Watering system, until 

all or substantially all of the Water has been separated from the 

solids. As the Water is separated from solids and continuously 

returned to the WasteWater concentrator this mode of opera 

tion alloWs Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) as the remaining 

solids can be disposed of in any desirable and appropriate 

manner. 

The thermoelectric poWer plant 12 may be any type of 

poWer plant, such as a nuclear poWer plant or a hydrocarbon 

?red poWer plant. In the exemplary arrangement shoWn in the 

draWings, the thermoelectric poWer plant 12 is a hydrocar 

bon-?red poWer plant. The thermoelectric poWer plant 12 

includes one or more combustion heaters 30, such as boilers, 

for heating boiler feed Water 31 into steam 33 to turn a 

generator turbine (not shoWn). The boiler 30 discharges a 

main stream 32 of hot ?ue gases that passes sequentially 

through an economiZer 34 operatively connected to the boiler 

30, an air pre-heater 36 for pre-heating boiler combustion 

feed air, a ?ue gas desulfuriZation system (“FGD”) 38 for 

removing ?y ash and sulfur dioxide from the ?ue gas, and a 

?ue gas exhaust stack 40 for exhausting the ?ue gas to atmo 

sphere. The boilers 30 may be coal-?red, gas-?red, and/or 

oil-?red. 

In some optional arrangements, the exemplary FGD sys 

tem 38 includes a ?y ash removal device 42, such as fabric bag 

?lter, electrostatic precipitator (“ESP”) or Wet electrostatic 

precipitator (“WESP”), operatively connected to the air pre 

heater 36, a Wet scrubber 44 operatively connected to the ?y 

ash removal device 42, and an absorber 46 for removing 

sulfur oxides operatively connected to the Wet scrubber 44.As 

is Well understood in the art, a sorbent slurry, such as a slurry 

containing poWder limestone, is circulated through the 

absorber 46 and mixed With the ?ue gas to draW and precipi 

tate sulfur oxides (SOX) and/or other contaminants out of the 

?ue gas. As the slurry is re-circulated through the absorber, 

the TDS in the slurry increases. To maintain the slurry Within 

a preselected range or under a preselected maximum TDS 

concentration, a small amount of the slurry With high TDS 

concentration is draWn out of the absorber While fresh 

makeup sorbent slurry 48 With loWer TDS concentration is 
US 8,585,869 B1 

7 

provided into the absorber 46 to maintain the desired TDS 

concentration of the slurry being circulated through the 

absorber 46. A product of the SO,C precipitate, gypsum 49, can 

be draWn out from the absorber 46 for subsequent use, sale, or 

disposal. 

The thermoelectric poWer plant 12 and the FGD system 38 

described herein are meant only to provide su?icient exem 

plary background for understanding hoW the WasteWater 

treatment system 10 can be integrated into the thermoelectric 

poWer plant 12 to treat the WasteWater produced therein. It is 

understood that the thermoelectric poWer plant 12 and the 

FGD system 38 may include additional and/ or alternative 

components in a manner Well understood in the art and not the 

further subject of this application. 

The high TDS concentration slurry draWn from the 

absorber 46, called ?ue gas desulfuriZation (FGD) purge 

Water, or “bloWdoWn,” is operatively conducted via one or 

more conduits 16 to the inlet 17 to be supplied as feed Waste 

Water to the WasteWater concentrator 14. Hot feed gases are 

also supplied to the inlet 19 by one or more conduits 18 for 

direct mixing With the feed WasteWater inside the WasteWater 

concentrator 14. Preferably, both the hot feed gases and the 

feed WasteWater are supplied to the WasteWater concentrator 

14 continuously and simultaneously to promote continuous 

direct mixing and evaporation. 

In an optional multi-stage system, the FGD purge Water 

optionally undergoes some pre-processing before entering 

the WasteWater concentrator 14. For example, the conduit 16 

optionally operatively connects the absorber 46 and a piece of 

pre-processing equipment 50 to deliver the FGD purge Water 

to the pre-processing equipment 50 forming a ?rst stage. The 

conduit 16 operatively connects the pre-processing equip 

ment 50 and the inlet 17 to deliver the feed WasteWater to the 

WasteWater concentrator 14 after processing in the pre-pro 

cessing equipment 50, thereby forming a second stage. The 

pre-processing equipment 50 may be any type of pre-process 

ing system that is not incompatible With the eventual process 

ing of the feed WasteWater in the WasteWater concentrator 14. 

In other arrangements, the feed WasteWater is not pretreated, 

in Which case the pre-processing equipment 50 is omitted and 

the conduit 16 connects directly to the WasteWater concentra 

tor 14. 

In some optional arrangements, cooling toWer purge Water 

additionally or alternatively is draWn from cooling Water 

from a cooling toWer 52 and supplied in the feed WasteWater 

to the WasteWater concentrator 14. For example, a conduit 54 

operatively connects the cooling toWer 52 to the inlet 17 by 

operatively connecting With the conduit 16 or directly to the 

inlet 17. The conduit 54 optionally is operatively connected to 

the pre-processing equipment 50 to conduct the cooling toWer 

purge Water to and through the pre-processing equipment 50 

before the cooling toWer purge Water is supplied to the Waste 

Water concentrator 14 as part of the feed WasteWater. 

In some optional arrangements, service Water from other 

various processes and equipment additionally or alternatively 

is supplied in the feed WasteWater to the WasteWater concen 

trator 14. For example, a conduit 56 operatively connects 

service Water, Which is collected at various locations and/or 

other equipment Within the plant shoWn generally at 57, to the 

WasteWater concentrator 14. The conduit 56 optionally is 

operatively connected to the conduit 16, the pre-processing 

equipment 50 to pre-process the service Waterbefore entering 

the WasteWater concentrator 14, and/or directly to the feed 

WasteWater entering the inlet 17. Thus, service Water from 

throughout the plant may be additionally or alternatively sup 

plied to the WasteWater concentrator 14 in a similar manner. In 

another example, the thermoelectric poWer plant 12 may gen 

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45 

50 

55 

60 

65 

8 

erate poWer plant leachate, such as leachate or runoff from a 

Waste disposal area, such as a land?ll area, Where solid or 

semi-solid Waste products, such as gypsum, ?y ash, and/or 

other Waste products, are held. In such case, the WasteWater 

concentrator 14 in some arrangements can be operatively 

connected With a source of the poWer plant leachate such that 

the poWer plant leachate is supplied to the WasteWater con 

centrator 14 for processing. In a further example, the thermo 

electric poWer plant may include one or more holding reser 

voirs for mixed Water and Waste materials, such as a holding 

pond, evaporation pond, settling pond, or open-topped set 

tling tank, Which holds Water that may include various Waste 

materials. In such case, the WasteWater concentrator 14 may 

be operatively connected With the holding reservoir such that 

Water from the holding reservoir is supplied to the WasteWater 

concentrator 14 for processing. The sources of poWer plant 

leachate and the holding reservoir may also be schematically 

identi?ed at 57. Thus, it is understood that the feed WasteWa 

ter supplied to the WasteWater concentrator 14 may include 

any one or more of the exemplary sources of WasteWater 

described herein and/or may include other types of WasteWa 

ter that may be produced or found at a poWer plant. 

The hot feed gases in some optional arrangements are 

heated With Waste heat from other processes in the poWer 

plant 12 and/or by a dedicated heating system. In the exem 

plary arrangement shoWn in FIG. 1, the hot feed gases are 

heated either directly or indirectly With a slip stream of ?ue 

gases diverted from the main stream 32 of ?ue gases, such as 

along the conduit 18. The slip stream may be pulled from one 

or more different locations along the main stream 32. In the 

exemplary arrangement, the conduit 18 is operatively con 

nected to the main stream 32 to draW off hot ?ue gases 

betWeen the economiZer 34 and the air pre-heater 36. HoW 

ever, the conduit 18 may also or alternatively be operatively 

connected to the main stream 32 to draW off hot ?ue gases 

betWeen the boiler 30 and the economiZer 34, betWeen the air 

pre-heater 36 and the ?y ash removal device 42, betWeen the 

?y ash removal device 42 and the Wet scrubber 44, and/or 

betWeen the Wet scrubber 44 and the absorber 46. The hot feed 

gases may have a temperature of betWeen approximately l 500 

F. and approximately 800° F. depending on Where the slip 

stream is connected to the main stream 32 and Whether the 

heating arrangement for the hot gas is direct or indirect. The 

hot ?ue gases may be provided directly into the WasteWater 

concentrator 14 and/ or may be used to indirectly heat clean or 

cleaner gases/air, such as through a heat exchanger. Other 

sources of Waste heat inside the poWer plant 12, such as from 

?ares, burners, steam condensers, and engines, may also or alternatively be used to heat the hot feed gases supplied to the 

WasteWater concentrator 14 at the inlet 19. In one arrange 

ment, the hot feed gases are draWn from heated air produced 

by the combustion air pre-heater 36, as shoWn at optional 

conduit 18" operatively connecting the combustion air pre 

heater 3 6 With the WasteWater concentrator 14. The heated air 

from the combustion air pre-heater 36 optionally may be 

further heated before being provided as hot feed gases, for 

example, With a ?are or a burner 18a operatively disposed 

along the conduit 18". The conduit 18" may connect directly 

to the inlet 19 or may be operatively connected to the inlet 19 

through, for example, a connection With the conduit 18. In 

addition or alternatively, the hot feed gases may be direct ?red 

by a ?are or burner, Which may be dedicated for heating the 

feed gases, prior to being supplied to the inlet 19. In another 

arrangement, the WasteWater concentrator 14 is operatively 

connected to a piece of standby electrical generation equip 

ment, such as a standby gas turbine or other peak shaving 

electrical generation device (not shoWn), such that hot Waste 
US 8,585,869 B1 

9 

gases or heated air generated by the equipment is supplied to 

the WasteWater concentrator 14 for heating the feed WasteWa 

ter in a similar manner as described herein. It is also contem 

plated that, in some arrangements, the WasteWater generator 

14 is operatively connected to a plurality of different Waste 

heat sources, such as any one or more of the Waste heat 

sources described herein or other Waste heat sources, so as to 

provide hot feed gases to the inlet 19 for heating the feed 

WasteWater. An advantage of using Waste heat from other 

processes in the poWer plant 12, such as the hot ?ue gas from 

the boiler 30, may be gaining more ef?ciencies and/ or reduc 

ing negative environmental impact by reducing the loss of 

unused Waste heat to the atmosphere. 

As seen diagrammatically in FIG. 2, the WasteWater con 

centrator 14 incorporates a direct contact adiabatic concen 

tration system. The WasteWater concentrator 14 includes the 

WasteWater feed inlet 17, the hot feed gas inlet 19, a direct 

contact evaporative section 58, a gas-liquid separator 60, the 

gas discharge outlet 22, and the brine discharge outlet 24. The 

WasteWater feed inlet 17 and the hot feed gas inlet 19 open 

into the direct contact evaporative section 58. In the direct 

contact evaporative section 58, hot feed gas and feed Waste 

Water are directly contacted With each other, such as by direct 

intermixing, to form a high-surface area gas-Water interface 

from Which Water from the feed WasteWater evaporates into 

the feed gases Without requiring the addition of dedicated heat 

energy, such as from a burner, to achieve rapid evaporation of 

the Water into the feed gases. Rather, rapid evaporation is 

achieved by forming the high surface area gas-Water interface 

by, for example, rapid mixing of a continuous air volume With 

a discontinuous Water volume, such as through a venturi 

device as shoWn and described in any of U8. Patent Appli 

cation Publication No. 2013/0037223, U.S. Patent Applica 

tion Publication No. 2010/0236724, and Us. Patent Appli 

cation No. 61/673,967, ?led Jul. 20, 2012, or by rapid mixing 

of a continuous Water volume With a discontinuous air vol 

ume, such as in a submerged gas evaporator With a draft tube 

as described in Us. Pat. No. 7,416,172. In one preferred 

arrangement, the WasteWater concentrator 14 includes one or 

more aspects of the LM-HT® WasteWater evaporator, offered 

by Heartland Technology Partners, LLC, of 9870 Big Bend 

Blvd, St. Louis, Mo. The WasteWater concentrator 14 may 

include any one or more aspects and features disclosed in the 

above-indicated patents and patent applications, each of 

Which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The 

direct contact evaporative section 58 is operatively connected 

to the gas-liquid separator 60, for example With a conduit 

and/ or opening, to alloW the mixed gases, Which includes the 

feed gas and Water vapor evaporated from the WasteWater, and 

the WasteWater entrained therein to travel into the gas-liquid 

separator 60. The WasteWater entrained in the mixed gases 

exiting the direct contact evaporative section 58 is separated 

from the mixed gases in the gas-liquid separator 60. The 

gas-liquid separator 60 may be a cross-?oW gas-liquid sepa 

rator, Wherein a stream of the mixed gases and entrained 

liquids is forced through one or more demister panels to 

separate the entrained liquids from the gases. Alternatively, 

the gas-Water separator 60 may be a cyclonic gas-liquid sepa 

rator, or a combination of cross-?oW and cyclonic gas-liquid 

separators. Within cyclonic gas-liquid separators, a stream of 

gases and entrained liquids is forced through a cyclone cham 

ber to separate entrained liquids from the gases. In one 

arrangement, the WasteWater concentrator 14 is siZed to have 

a processing through rate of approximately 30 gallons per 

minute (gpm) of feed WasteWater, including neW WasteWater 

and recycled WasteWater from the discharge brine, and/or 

produces a discharge brine having betWeen approximately 

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55 

60 

65 

10 

30% and 60% TDS. In other arrangements, the WasteWater 

concentrator 14 may be siZed to have a higher processing 

through rate, for example of 60 gpm, 100 gpm, 200 gpm, or 

more, a loWer processing through rate, for example of 30 gpm 

or less, and any processing through rate Within these ranges. 

The WasteWater concentrator 14 is preferably permanently 

installed in the thermoelectric poWer plant 12. Alternatively, 

the WasteWater concentrator 14 is portable and may be tem 

porarily installed in the thermoelectric poWer plant 12. 

FIG. 4 shoWs one exemplary arrangement of the WasteWa 

ter concentrator 14 that incorporates a direct contact adiabatic 

concentration system, Wherein the direct contact evaporative 

section 58 includes a venturi device 62 and the gas-liquid 

separator 60 includes a cross ?oW gas-liquid separator 64. 

The conduit 18 is connected to the inlet 19, Which opens into 

the venturi device 62 to supply hot feed gases into the Waste 

Water concentrator 14. The conduit 16 is connected to the inlet 

17, Which opens into the venturi device 62 to supply feed 

WasteWater into the WasteWater concentrator 14. The hot feed 

gases and the feed WasteWater are forced through a narroWed 

throat of a venturi, Which increases velocity compared to the 

velocity of gases through the conduit 18, Where the hot feed 

gases and the feed WasteWater are thoroughly mixed together 

to cause rapid evaporation of Water vapor. From the throat of 

the venturi device 62, the mixed WasteWater and gases are 

directed through a conduit 66 into the cross ?oW gas-liquid 

separator 64. The cross ?oW gas-liquid 64 separator includes 

an outer shell 68 forming an interior space, an inlet port 70 

into the interior space, and an outlet port 72 out of the interior 

space, and a plurality of demister panels 74 disposed in the 

interior space betWeen the inlet port 70 and the outlet port 72. 

The demister panels 74 are vertically suspended at 900 to, and 

across the gas ?oW path betWeen the inlet port 70 and the 

outlet port 72 arranged to collect entrained WasteWater carried 

by the gases ?oWing through the interior space and deposit the 

collected WasteWater in a sump 76 at the bottom of the interior 

space. The conduit 20 is connected to the outlet port 72, and 

a fan 78 is optionally operatively connected to the conduit 20 

to impart a negative pressure across the interior space to draW 

the gases through the WasteWater concentrator 14. Additional 

details regarding this exemplary WasteWater concentrator 14 

are found in the Us. Patent Application Publication No. 

2010/0236724 mentioned previously herein. 

With reference again to FIGS. 1 and 2, in an exemplary 

method, WasteWater produced by various processes in the 

thermoelectric poWer plant 12, such as purge Water from the 

FGD system 38 and/or the cooling toWer 52 and/or service 

Water, is processed Within the WasteWater concentrator 14 

according to the folloWing preferred exemplary process steps. 

A stream of hot feed gases is provided to the WasteWater 

concentrator 14 With the conduit 18 operatively connected to 

the inlet 19. Preferably, the conduit 18 is operatively con 

nected to the main ?ue gas stream 32 so that the hot feed gases 

are heated With Waste heat from the boiler 3 0. A stream of feed 

WasteWater, including one or more of the purge Waters and/or 

service Water, is provided to the WasteWater concentrator 14 

through one or more conduits 1 6 operatively connected to one 

or more inlets 17. The conduit 16 is operatively connected to 

one or more sources of the purge Waters and/or service Water. 

The hot feed gases are mixed directly With the feed WasteWa 

ter inside the WasteWater concentrator 14, such as in the direct 

contact evaporative section 58, to evaporate Water vapor from 

the feed WasteWater. Preferably, the hot feed gases and the 

feed WasteWater are mixed by being directed through a ven 

turi device. The Water vapor and gases are then separated from 

entrained concentrated WasteWater in the WasteWater concen 

trator 14, such as inside the gas-liquid separator 60, thereby 
US 8,585,869 B1 

11 

forming a concentrated discharge brine and discharge gases. 

The discharge brine includes the concentrated WasteWater 

separated from the Water vapor and the gases. The discharge 

gases include the gases and the Water vapor. Thereafter, the 

discharge gases are exhausted from the WasteWater concen 

trator 14, such as through the exhaust outlet 22 and through 

the conduit 20. The discharge brine is discharged, either peri 

odically or continuously, from the WasteWater concentrator 

14 through the discharge outlet 24. 

In one option, the discharge brine is supplied to the post 

processing equipment 26, including a solid-liquid separator. 

The solid-liquid separator separates solids and liquids in the 

brine. The liquids are returned, for example With a return 

conduit 80 operatively connecting the solid-liquid separator 

to one of the inlets 17, for reprocessing through the WasteWa 

ter concentrator 14. The solids are removed from the solid 

liquid separator for further processing, repurposing, and/or 

disposal. 

Turning to FIG. 3, in addition to the process steps described 

previously, additional and alternative optional exemplary 

processing steps are shoWn for processing the WasteWater 

from the thermoelectric poWer plant 12 With the WasteWater 

concentrator 14. In this exemplary arrangement, the conduit 

16 is operatively connected to the FGD system 38 to supply 

FGD purge Water as part of the feed WasteWater supplied to 

the inlet 17 of the WasteWater concentrator 14. The FGD 

purge Water is pre-treated, such as by the pre-processing 

equipment 50 operatively disposed along the conduit 16, 

prior to entering the WasteWater concentrator 14. The conduit 

18 is operatively connected to the main ?ue gas stream 32. A 

?y ash removal device 82, such as an ESP, WESP, or ?lterbag, 

is preferably operatively disposed along the conduit 18 to remove and/or reduce ?y ash and/or other particulates from 

the ?ue gas prior to entering the WasteWater concentrator 14. 

Alternatively or additionally, hot ?ue gases from the main ?ue 

may be provided to the WasteWater concentrator 14 Without 

being treated, such as by a conduit 18' having a ?rst end 

operatively connected to the main ?ue gas stream 32 and a 

second end operatively connected to the inlet 19 of the Waste 

Water concentrator 14. In some arrangements, a controlled 

amount of ?y ash may be provided into the feed WasteWater, 

either by reintroduction into or incomplete removal from, the 

stream of feed WasteWater. The conduit 20 is operatively 

connected With additional emission control equipment, such 

as a reheater 84. The discharge gases are conducted to the 

reheater 84 via the conduit 20. The reheater 84 heats or 

re-heats the discharge gases from the WasteWater concentra 

tor 14, such as With a ?are, burner, or another stream of heated 

gases, preferably to a temperature above an acid-gas conden 

sation temperature appropriate for the makeup of the dis 

charge gases. Thereafter, the re-heated discharge gases are 

returned to the plant exhaust system, such as to the exhaust 

stack 40, and/or are returned for re-use in other equipment 

Within the plant, such as the FGD system 38. Further, solids 

removed from the solid-liquid separator 26 are directed, such 

as by a conduit 86, to additional post-processing equipment 

26' for further treatment. The solids are removed from the 

post-processing equipment 26' and transported aWay for dis 

posal, such as sale, repurposing, land?lling, etc. 

Turning to FIG. 5, in some preferred arrangements, the 

pre-processing equipment 50 shoWn in FIGS. 1 and 3 

includes one or more contained air-Water interface liquid 

evaporators, such as liquid evaporators 90, 90', and/or 90", 

operatively disposed in a reservoir 92 of WasteWater obtained 

from one or more of the processes Within the poWer plant 12. 

The reservoir 92 may be a tank or a pond open to the envi 

ronment, for example. At least one or more sources of Waste 

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55 

60 

65 

12 

Water from the poWer plant 12, such as the conduits 16, 54, 

and/or 56, are operatively connected to one or more inlets 9411 

into the reservoir 92 to provide WasteWater from the poWer 

plant 12 into the reservoir 92. Another portion of the conduit 

16 operatively connects one or more outlets 94b of the reser 

voir 92 to the inlet 17 of the WasteWater concentrator 14 to 

transfer the WasteWater from the reservoir 92 to the WasteWa 

ter concentrator 14. The WasteWater may include FGD purge 

Water, cooling toWer purge Water, service Water, poWer plant 

leachate, and/or holding reservoir Water, as described previ 

ously herein. The liquid evaporator 90 is also operatively 

connected to a source of forced air, such as a fan 93. The 

forced air optionally is heated by one or more sources of 

Waste heat in the poWer plant in a manner as described else 

Where herein. Preferably, the fan 93 is operatively connected 

by a conduit 95 to bloW the air into the liquid evaporator. The 

fan 93 may be, for example, any type of bloWer su?icient and 

arranged to force the hot gases the air into the liquid evapo 

rator 90 so as to achieve vigorous air-Water mixing as 

described in more detail beloW. The liquid evaporator 90 

pre-treats the poWer plant WasteWater by evaporating some 

Water out of the WasteWater, thereby providing a more con 

centrated stream of the WasteWater to be supplied into the 

WasteWater concentrator 14. Thus, using the liquid evaporator 

90 as part of a pre-treatment step at the pre-processing equip 

ment 50 can improve the output of the WasteWater concentra 

tor 14 by reducing the treatment time to obtain the desired 

degree of concentration for brine discharged from the Waste 

Water concentrator 14. Further, heating the air forced into the 

liquid evaporator 90, for example, With Waste heat from the 

poWer plant, improves the effectiveness of the liquid evapo 

rator 90. If the air is heated from Waste heat produced in the 

poWer plant 12, the liquid evaporator 90 may further improve 

the energy ef?ciency of the poWer plant 12. In addition, other 

exemplary contained air-Water interface liquid evaporators, 

such as the liquid evaporators 90' and/or 90" as shoWn in 

FIGS. 6 and 7, may additionally or alternatively be opera 

tively disposed in the reservoir 92 to pre-treat the WasteWater 

at the pre-processing equipment 50. Although described in 

relation to use in the environment of the poWer plant 12, any 

one of the liquid evaporator 90, 90', 90" may be used to 

pre-process WasteWater prior to being provided for process 

ing in the WasteWater concentrator 14 as part of a WasteWater 

treatment system in other industrial settings, either alone or in 

combination With other devices. Thus, the combination of a 

liquid evaporator 90, 90', or 90" as a pre-processing device for 

WasteWater being processed by the WasteWater concentrator 

14 is not limited to use in the poWer plant 12. A brief descrip 

tion of each of the exemplary liquid evaporators 90, 90', and 

90" is provided herein. Additional detailed description of the 

liquid evaporators 90, 90', and 90" may be found in Us. 

Patent Application No. 61/614,601, Which is incorporated by 

reference herein in its entirety. 

In the exemplary arrangement of FIG. 5, the liquid evapo 

rator 90 has a body de?ning a partially enclosed vessel 96 that 

?oats or is otherWise maintained in a position in the reservoir 

92 of WasteWater such that the top surface of the WasteWater is 

located betWeen a top portion of the vessel disposed above the 

WasteWater and a bottom portion of the vessel disposed in the 

WasteWater. The vessel 96 de?nes an interior space 98 that is 

con?ned by the Walls of the vessel. An opening 100 through a 

submergedportion of the vessel 96 alloWs WasteWater to enter 

into the bottom portion of the interior space 98 con?ned 

Within the vessel 96. The bottom portion of the interior space 

98 is in ?uid communication With the upper portion of the 

interior space 98 such that Water vapor may travel from the 

bottom portion into the top portion. The top portion of the 
US 8,585,869 B1 

13 

interior space 98 at least partly de?nes an exhaust pathA from 

the top surface of the WasteWater inside the vessel 96 to one or 

more exhaust ports 102 to the surrounding environment. The 

exhaust ports 102 are operatively located above the top sur 

face of the WasteWater. An air doWncomer 104 is arranged to 

be connected to an air supply line, such as the conduit 95. The 

air doWncomer 104 has a discharge outlet 106 disposed inside 

the bottom portion of the interior space 98. The discharge 

outlet 106 may include an open bottom end 10611 of the air 

doWncomer 104. The discharge outlet 106 includes a plurality 

of sparge ports 10619 through the sideWall of the air doWn 

comer 104 adjacent the open bottom end 10611. The area 

Where the discharge outlet 106 is located inside the bottom 

portion of the con?ned space 98 forms an air entrainment 

chamber 108 during operation of the liquid evaporator. In 

operation, an air pump, such as the fan 93, forces air through 

the air doWncomer 104 into the air entrainment chamber 108, 

Where the air displaces WasteWater causing WasteWater to 

How upWards into the bottom open end 100 of the air entrain 

ment chamber 108 and through the interior space 98, thereby 

establishing vigorous mixing of the air With the WasteWater. 

The air-Water mixture then moves naturally to the top surface 

of the WasteWater inside the con?ned interior space 98, Where 

the air and Water vapor separates from the WasteWater, for 

example, by bubbling. From the top surface of the WasteWater 

inside the interior space 98, the air and Water vapor travels 

through the exhaust pathWay A to be exhausted out of the 

vessel 96 through the exhaust ports 102 as moist exhaust air 

containing Water vapor, While concentrated WasteWater and 

contaminants are trapped Within the vessel 96 and returned to 

the WasteWater. In this manner, Water is evaporated and sepa 

rated out from the contaminants Without allowing uncon 

trolled dispersion of the WasteWater mist or spray into the 

surrounding environment. The liquid evaporator 90 may be 

maintained in the operative position at the top surface of the 

WasteWater in the reservoir 92 by any convenient mechanism, 

such as support legs, a suspension structure, and/ or ?otation. 

In one optional arrangement, the interior space 98 of the 

vessel 96 includes an upper chamber 110, a middle chamber 

112, and a loWer chamber 114, Which are in ?uid communi 

cation With each other. An open bottom end of the loWer 

chamber 114 de?nes the opening 100. An open top end of the 

loWer chamber 114 connects With an opening at the bottom of 

the middle chamber 112. In the operative position, the top 

level of the WasteWater extends through the middle chamber 

112, such that the loWer chamber 114 and a loWer portion of 

the middle chamber 112 are disposed in the WasteWater, and 

the upper chamber 110 and the upper portion of the middle 

chamber 112 are disposed above the WasteWater. The air 

entrainment chamber 1 08 is de?ned inside the loWer chamber 

114. Flotation devices 116 carried by the vessel 96 are located 

so as to maintain the liquid evaporator 90 in the operative 

position. The exhaust ports 102 are directed doWnWardly 

toWard the top surface of the WasteWater. The doWncomer 1 04 

extends doWn through the top of the vessel 96, into and 

through the upper chamber 110 and the middle chamber 112, 

and into the loWer chamber 114. The discharge outlet 106 is 

spaced above the opening 100 a space su?icient to ensure that 

air discharged through the discharge outlet 106 does not exit 

through the opening 100 under normal operating conditions. 

A baf?e 118 separates the upper chamber 110 from the 

middle chamber 112. Openings 120 through the baffle 118 

alloW Water vapor to pass from the middle chamber 112 to the 

upper chamber 110. Demisting structures 122 are disposed in 

the upper chamber in and/ or across the exhaust pathA to form 

a tortuous path from the openings 120 to the exhaust ports 

102. Liquid discharge tubes 124a, 1241) extend doWn from the 

20 

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35 

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45 

50 

55 

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65 

14 

middle chamber 112 on opposite sides of the loWer chamber 

114. The liquid discharge tubes 124a, 1241) merge into a 

single discharge riser 124c beloW the vessel 96. An air vent 

tube 124d is located at the top of the discharge riser 1240 at the 

junction of the discharge pipes 124a and 12419. The air vent 

tube 124d is substantially smaller than the liquid discharge 

tubes 124a, 1241) or discharge riser 1240. The discharge riser 

124c extends doWnWardly toWard the bottom of the reservoir 

92. As air is pumped through the doWncomer 104 into the 

loWer chamber 114, the Water circulates upWardly in the air 

entrainment chamber 108 to the middle chamber 112, moves 

radially outWardly in the middle chamber 112, and then trav 

els from the middle doWnWardly into the liquid discharge 

tubes 124a, 1241). The Water is discharged back into the 

reservoir 92 out of one or more openings in the discharge riser 

1240. The liquid evaporator 90 is preferably fabricated almost 

entirely from plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride, polypropy 

lene, or high density polyethylene. 

In the exemplary arrangement of FIG. 6, the liquid evapo 

rator 90' is adapted for use in a multi-stage system that uses 

the evaporator 90' as an intermediate in-line unit With a con 

nection for transferring the exhaust Water vapor to another 

processing step, such as another liquid evaporator 90, 90', or 

90", or to a remote exhaust location. The liquid evaporator 90' 

is substantially similar to the liquid evaporator 90 With the 

exception that, in the upper chamber 110, the liquid evapora 

tor 90' has only a single exhaust port 102 for connection to 

another transfer conduit instead of a plurality of exhaust ports 

102, and the liquid evaporator 90' has a single bustle 130 

instead of the baffles 122. The vessel 96, the doWncomer 104, 

and the exhaust path A are preferably arranged radially sym 

metrically about a vertical axis Z, and the exhaust port 102 is 

non-symmetrically arranged about the vertical axis Z at a 

single location on one side of the top chamber 110. All other 

portions of the evaporator 90' are preferably the same as the 

corresponding portions on the evaporator 90 and Will not be 

described again for the sake of brevity. The bustle 130 is 

arranged to alloW the non-symmetrically located exhaust port 

102 to draW off air and Water vapor from inside the top 

chamber 110 so as to maintain radially symmetrical How of 

air upWardly from the sparge ports 10619 and through the 

loWer and middle chambers 114 and 112, by for example, 

causing uniform radial mass How of air at all circumferential 

locations around the bustle 13 0 from a region inside the bustle 

130 radially outWardly to a region outside of the bustle 130 to 

the exhaust port 102. The bustle 130 is formed of a circum 

ferential Wall 132, preferably a cylindrical Wall, extending 

upWardly from the baffle 118 part Way to the top interior Wall 

of the upper chamber 110. The circumferential Wall 132 is 

spaced radially betWeen the outer peripheral Wall of the upper 

chamber 110 and the openings 120, thereby forming an inner 

volume encompassed by the bustle 130 and an outer periph 

eral volume betWeen the bustle 130 and the outer peripheral 

Wall. The circumferential Wall 132 de?nes a gap 134 betWeen 

the inner volume and the outer peripheral volume. The gap 

134 has a Width W betWeen a top edge of the circumferential 

Wall 132 and a top Wall of the upper chamber 110. The Width 

W of the gap 134 is continuously variable along the length of 

the Wall 132. The gap 134 has a smallest Width W (e.g., the 

Wall 132 is tallest) immediately adjacent the location of the 

exhaust port 102. The gap 134 has a largest Width W diametri 

cally opposite the location of the exhaust port 102. In the 

present example, the circumferential Wall 132 is cylindrical 

and the top edge de?nes an inclined plane With its highest 

point adjacent the exhaust port 102 and its loWest point dia 

metrically opposite from the exhaust port 102. Preferably, the 

Width W of the gap 134 is arranged to vary so the velocity of 
US 8,585,869 B1 

15 

exhaust air is constant through any vertical cross-section of 

the gap 134 that is in a plane perpendicular to conduit 106 

Other bustle designs capable of providing or improving uni 

form radial mass ?oW of the air outWardly from the inner 

volume are also possible, such as those disclosed in Us. Pat. 

No. 7,442,035, Which is incorporated by reference herein in 

its entirety. The exhaust port 102 is optionally connected to a 

conduit 136 that is operatively connected to another instru 

ment, such as another evaporator 90, 90', or 90". The exhaust 

port 102 may alternatively exhaust to air or be connected to 

some other device. 

In the exemplary arrangement of FIG. 7, the liquid evapo 

rator 90" is substantially similar to the liquid evaporators 90 

and/ or 90', but With the addition of an adjustable stabiliZation 

system 140 and tWo additional discharge tubes 124e and 124]. 

Like the previously described liquid evaporators 90 and 90', 

the liquid evaporator 90" also includes the partially enclosed 

vessel 96 having the middle chamber 112 disposed betWeen 

the upper chamber 110 and the loWer chamber 114, the air 

supply doWncomer 104 arranged for connection to an air 

supply line, such as the conduit 95, for injecting air into the air 

entrainment chamber 108 formed by the loWer chamber 114, 

and internal baf?es 122 and/or the bustle 130 (not visible) 

arranged in the upper chamber 110 to provide a tortuous path 

to one or more exhaust outlets 102. The discharge tubes 

124a,b,e, f are preferably radially spaced equally from the 

axis Z and preferably spaced at 90° on center around the outer 

periphery. Further, the outer annular periphery of the loWer 

chamber 114 is spaced radially inWardly from the discharge 

tubes 12411, b, ef rather than being located immediately adja 

cent the discharge tubes as shoWn for the liquid evaporators 

90 and 90'. Preferably, remaining features of the partially 

enclosed vessel 96 are identical to corresponding features in 

either of the liquid evaporators 90 or 90' and can be under 

stood With reference to the prior descriptions thereof. The 

adjustable stabiliZation system 140 is arranged to help stabi 

liZe the liquid evaporator 90" in an upright operative position, 

i.e., With the axis Z aligned generally vertically, the loWer 

chamber 1 14 disposed in the WasteWater, and the upper cham 

ber 110 disposed above the WasteWater While air is being 

forced through the air supply doWncomer 104 into the loWer 

chamber 114. The stabiliZation system 140 includes ?otation 

devices 142 operatively secured to the vessel 96 by outriggers 

144. The position of the ?otation devices 142 may be adjusted 

axially and/or radially to cause the vessel 96 to sit higher or 

loWer in the WasteWater. The ?otation devices 142 are dis 

posed diametrically opposite each other on opposite sides of 

the vessel 96. Each ?otation device 142 preferably is spaced 

radially from the outer annular periphery of the vessel and 

siZed to provide su?icient buoyancy to hold the upper cham 

ber 110 spaced above the top surface of the WasteWater. The 

outriggers 144 are formed by tWo struts arranged in parallel 

on opposite sides of the doWncomer 104 and connected to the 

top of the vessel. Each strut extends outWardly from opposite 

sides of the outer annular periphery of the upper chamber 1 10, 

and each ?otation device 142 is attached near the ends of the 

struts. One or more hinges 146 in the struts are spaced from 

the outer annular periphery of the upper chamber 110 and 

arranged to alloW the ?otation devices 142 to be selectively 

raised and/ or loWered by pivoting the ends of the struts around 

the respective hinges. The ?otation devices 142 are preferably 

disposed spaced along an axis of the conduit 95 over the top 

of the vessel 96 approaching the doWncomer 104. The ?ota 

tion devices 142 are arranged to counteract rotational forces 

that act to tip the vessel 96 aWay from substantially vertical 

alignment in response to air being forced through the conduit 

95. 

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16 

The systems, apparatuses, and methods for treating ?ue gas 

desulfuriZation purge Water and other forms of WasteWater 

disclosed herein may be useful to address Water-use for ther 

moelectric generating units, particularly such units that rely on burning hydrocarbon fuels, such as coal. In some applica 

tions, the systems, apparatuses, and methods may be imple 

mented as important components of or for Zero-liquid dis 

charge (ZLD) treatment systems, moisture recovery, 

WasteWater treatment, land?ll management, Water manage 

ment for carbon dioxide technologies, cooling toWer and 

advanced cooling system technologies, and/or integrated 

Water management and modeling in thermoelectric generat 

ing units. The systems, apparatuses, and methods may help an 

operator of a thermoelectric generating unit to increase Water 

usage and/or re-usage e?iciency, reduce Water WithdraWal 

and/or consumption, and/or meet Water discharge limits. The 

technologies disclosed herein in some arrangements may pro 

vide a cost effective treatment alternative to currently knoWn 

treatment processes for ?ue gas desulfuriZation purge Water 

and other types of WasteWater. The technologies disclosed 

herein may reduce poWer consumption and/ or capture Waste 

Water pollutants With a more e?icient process for environ 

mentally friendly disposal of discharge pollutants. 

Additional modi?cations to the systems, apparatuses, and 

methods disclosed herein Will be apparent to those skilled in 

the art in vieW of the foregoing description. Accordingly, this 

description is to be construed as illustrative only and is pre 

sented for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to 

make and use the invention and to teach the best mode of 

carrying out same. The exclusive rights to all modi?cations 

Which come Within the scope of the appended claims are 

reserved. 

We claim: 

1. A multi-stage WasteWater treatment system comprising: 

a reservoir adapted to contain WasteWater therein; 

a contained air-Water interface liquid evaporator arranged 

to be operatively disposed in the reservoir, the contained 

air-Water interface liquid evaporator including a par 

tially enclosed vessel arranged to be operatively dis 

posed in the WasteWater and de?ning a con?ned space 

including an air entrainment chamber, an air doWncomer 

to bloW air into the WasteWater inside the mixing cham 

ber, and a ?rst exhaust port arranged to be operatively 

disposed above the WasteWater and to alloW Water vapor 

to escape from the mixing chamber; and 

a WasteWater concentrator separate from the contained air 

Water interface liquid evaporator, the WasteWater con 

centrator comprising a direct contact adiabatic WasteWa 

ter concentrator system, the WasteWater concentrator 

operatively connected to the reservoir to receive a stream 

of WasteWater from the reservoir and to form additional 

Water vapor and concentrated WasteWater from the 

stream of WasteWater, Wherein the WasteWater concen 

trator comprises a sump to collect the concentrated 

WasteWater and a second exhaust port arranged to alloW 

the additional Water vapor to escape from the WasteWater 

concentrator. 

2. The multi-stage WasteWater treatment system of claim 1, 

Wherein the WasteWater concentrator comprises a direct con 

tact evaporator section and a gas-liquid separator section. 

3. The multi-stage WasteWater treatment system of claim 2, 

Wherein the direct contact evaporator section comprises a 

venturi device arranged to mix hot feed gases directly With the 

stream of WasteWater and to evaporate Water from the stream 

of WasteWater to form the additional Water vapor and the 

concentrated WasteWater.