Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Findikakis, Angelos N.

McKalip-Thompson, Catherine C.

Valle, Brett L.

English

Hydraulic Engineering Repository

Conference Paper, Published VersionFindikakis, Angelos N.; McKalip-Thompson, Catherine C.; Valle, Brett L.Water Security in Three Major IndustriesZur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit/Provided in Cooperation with:Kuratorium für Forschung im Küsteningenieurwesen (KFKI)Verfügbar unter/Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11970/109723Vorgeschlagene Zitierweise/Suggested citation:Findikakis, Angelos N.; McKalip-Thompson, Catherine C.; Valle, Brett L. (2012): WaterSecurity in Three Major Industries. In: Hagen, S.; Chopra, M.; Madani, K.; Medeiros, S.;Wang, D. (Hg.): ICHE 2012. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference onHydroscience & Engineering, November 4-8, 2012, Orlando, USA.Standardnutzungsbedingungen/Terms of Use:Die Dokumente in HENRY stehen unter der Creative Commons Lizenz CC BY 4.0, sofern keine abweichendenNutzungsbedingungen getroffen wurden. Damit ist sowohl die kommerzielle Nutzung als auch das Teilen, dieWeiterbearbeitung und Speicherung erlaubt. Das Verwenden und das Bearbeiten stehen unter der Bedingung derNamensnennung. Im Einzelfall kann eine restriktivere Lizenz gelten; dann gelten abweichend von den obigenNutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.Documents in HENRY are made available under the Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0, if no other license isapplicable. Under CC BY 4.0 commercial use and sharing, remixing, transforming, and building upon the materialof the work is permitted. In some cases a different, more restrictive license may apply; if applicable the terms ofthe restrictive license will be binding.The 10th Int.  Conf. on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2012), Nov. 4 – Nov. 7, Orlando, USA 447        WATER SECURITY IN THREE MAJOR INDUSTRIES   Angelos N. Findikakis1, Catherine C. McKalip-Thompson2, and Brett L. Valle3   Water security for the industry means the aversion of water related risks, such as operation disruptions and economic losses caused by water shortages, flooding and water quality concerns.  Water shortages can be due to droughts, increased competition for limited water resources, or damage to the water infrastructure.  Water use and measures to improve water security are reviewed for three major industries, power generation, mining, and oil and gas production.   The Electric Power Generation Industry.  All forms of power generation systems, with the exception of wind and photovoltaic solar, use and consume water in their operation.  Typical thermoelectric units use a heat source (fossil fuel, nuclear fuel, or solar energy) to produce high-pressure steam that passes through turbines driving electric generators.  The majority of thermoelectric plants circulate water through heat exchangers to help condense the exhaust steam from the turbines.  The thermal power industry is moving away from once-through, or open-loop, cooling systems that use large volumes of water.  Most new powerplants use recirculation, or closed-loop, cooling systems that require more than an order of magnitude less water.  Even though the consumptive use of once-through cooling systems is of the order of one percent of the withdrawn water, or even less, water availability and environmental constraints on discharge water temperatures may still disrupt or limit power generation during periods of drought.  Because of the high water volume used in once-through cooling systems the total quantity of water withdrawals for thermoelectric power generation is high.  For example, in the United States in 2005 thermoelectric power generation accounted for 41 percent of all freshwater withdrawals.  In 1995 the average consumptive use for all thermoelectric powerplants in the United States was about 2 percent of the water withdrawals.  To improve its water security the industry has started using air cooling and wet/dry hybrid cooling systems.  These systems are particularly attractive for concentrated solar thermal power facilities, considering the very limited water availability at most premium solar energy locations. Water security is also a concern for hydroelectric power generation.  Even though there is no water consumption in hydropower generation when the water passes through the turbines, concerns and restrictions on the rate, timing and water quality of flow releases downstream of such plants may impact the amount and schedule of energy production.  In addition, it has been argued that hydroelectric plants in effect consume a lot of water, because of evaporation losses in their storage reservoirs.  These evaporation losses can be higher than the consumptive water use by similar capacity thermoelectric plants.   In many cases the water security of powerplants is threatened by increases in the demand of competing water uses, and by climate change and land use changes in their basins that affect the water availability and make it more difficult to comply with water temperature rise limits for the discharged                                                  1 Senior Principal Engineer and Bechtel Fellow, Bechtel National Inc., San Francisco, Ca (anfindik@bechtel.com) 2 Sustainable Development Manager, Gabon Infrastructure Program, Bechtel Civil, Libreville, Gabon (ccmckali@bechtel.com) 3 Senior Engineer, Bechtel National Inc., San Francisco, Ca (blvalle@bechtel.com) The 10th Int.  Conf. on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2012), Nov. 4 – Nov. 7, Orlando, USA 448   cooling water.  In some instances power plants are forced to limit generation because of insufficient water supplies.  Also, water availability is a limiting factor for the construction of new powerplants at sites where other all factors may be favorable.  For example, many premium locations for siting concentrated solar electricity facilities in the American Southwest have constrained water supplies.  The Oil and Gas Industry.  The oil and gas industry uses water for oil production and refining, for gas production, and in the processes of liquefying natural gas and revaporizing it.  Typically, water use increases over the life of an oil well as production progresses from primary to secondary and then tertiary recovery.  The volume of water used, especially in enhanced oil recovery, varies greatly depending on the method used.  Most of the water injected for oil extraction is recovered along with the oil and is reused, this way reducing the net water requirements for oil production. Net water use for heavy oil production from tar sands varies depending on the type of oil and the recovery process used.  The remaining sand and water after the extraction of the bitumen are placed in tailings ponds, where part of the water is reclaimed and reused in the extraction process.  Research on techniques for increasing water recovery and creating “dry” tailings is under way to further reduce net water consumption. Water use in oil refineries varies depending on the refining process.  About half of all water used in refineries is for cooling.  Most refineries use closed-loop cooling systems where the major use is make-up water for what is lost to evaporation.  Some refineries use treated wastewater for cooling. Shale gas production using hydraulic fracturing faces the dual challenge of competition for limited water supplies in areas where water is scarce, and concerns about potential contamination of nearby aquifers by methane or by the additives used for drilling.  Concerns about the latter are sometimes exacerbated by the lack of full disclosure of the composition of additive chemicals, which is often treated as commercially proprietary information by the industry.  Concerns have also been expressed about the disposal of the flowback water that may contain arsenic, uranium, benzene and other chemicals.   Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities use water for process cooling at the liquefaction end and for revaporization heating at the receiving end.  Water use is a function of the size of the facility.  LNG facilities in areas where water is scarce have their own desalination plants. The Mining Industry.  Most of the water used in the mining industry is for mineral processing.  Actual use varies depending on the process.  Considering that many mines are in arid or semi-arid areas, the industry has worked to reduce its reliance on fresh water resources by maximizing water reuse within its operations and by using alternative sources, such as brackish water or seawater, where feasible. Other water related challenges and risks in the mining industry revolve around the handling of tailings and the potential contamination of local streams and aquifers by inadvertent toxic effluent releases.  To reduce the volume and the risks associated with the handling of tailings, thickening techniques are used to increase the concentration of solids and reduce the water content of the tailings.  In response to these challenges, more mining operations are adopting sustainable water management practices and assessing their approach to identify opportunities for improvement.  For example, Rio Tinto, the second largest mining company in the world, has developed a water-risk review methodology that it uses to evaluate its sites across several dimensions of water management and assess progress towards set goals. Recommendations for raising the level of water security in all three industries include technical measures to improve water use efficiency in industrial processes, maximizing water reuse within operations, use of non-conventional water sources, comprehensive monitoring programs, the use of indicators to track progress towards sustainable water use, and increased transparency regarding data on water use, discharges and related operations.  

Water Security in Three Major Industries

http://henry.baw.de/bitstream/20.500.11970/109723/1/211_ICHE_2012.pdf

Water Security in Three Major Industries

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Hydraulic Engineering Repository