Investigation of sludge re-circulating clarifiers design and optimization through numerical simulation

In steam thermal power plants (TPP) with open re-circulating wet cooling towers, elimination of water hardness and suspended solids (SS) is performed in clarifiers. Mose of these clarifiers are of high efficiency sludge re-circulating type (SRC) with capacity between 500 and 1,500 m³/hr. Improper design and/or mal-operation of clarifiers in TPPs results in working conditions below design capacity or production of soft water with improper quality (hardness and SS). This causes accumulation of deposits in heat exchangers, condenser tubes, cooling and service water pipes and boiler tubes as well as increasing the ionic load of water at the demineralizing system inlet. It also increases the amount of chemical consumptions and produces more liquid and solid waste. In this regard, a software program for optimal design and simulation of SRCs has been developed. Then design parameters of existing SRCs in four TPPs in Iran were used as inputs to developed software program and resulting technical specifications were compared with existing ones. In some cases improper design was the main cause of poor outlet water quality. In order to achieve proper efficiency, further investigations were made to obtain control parameters as well as design parameters for both mal-designed and/or mal-operated SRCs.