Refinery Saves 2M Per Year With Boiler Feedwater Outsourcing Agreement

Challenge

A West Coast refinery turned to Evoqua for help in providing a more consistent and reliable quality of purified boiler feedwater. The refinery, using up to 1,500 gpm of demineralized boiler makeup water, was experiencing a variety of problems including aging demineralizers, pending environmental legislation, excessive operation costs, wide variations of raw water quality, and limited capital to address these issues.

Solution

After a thorough on-site needs analysis by the local sales engineer, Evoqua Water Technologies was selected to design, install, and operate a 1,500-gpm mobile-based reverse osmosis (RO) system.

Within a three-month time period, a high-purity water system was installed and put into operation feeding the refinery's existing demineralizers. The system consists of trailer-mounted carbon filtration, sodium softening, and reverse osmosis. 

To conserve plant water and minimize waste, the RO reject water is used for cooling tower makeup.

Results

The installation of this system has provided:

• $100,000 per month reduction in the refinery's operating costs
• $50,000 per month savings in water, energy and treatment chemicals from boiler blowdown reduction