10-12: Copper Corrosion Control And Minimized Copper Discharge From Cooling

Many Cooling towers and once through cooling systems' operators are facing tighter regulations on metals concentrations in cooling water discharge. Chief among these metals is copper, which of course is the primary material in many condenser tubes. This paper discusses the results and lessons learned at a Power Plant faced with new NPDES discharge limits for copper discharge. The paper also discusses improvements that are underway to the biocide and scale-inhibitor feed systems, management of cooling system operation, optimization of pH control, and the application of newly developed halogen stable copper corrosion inhibitor to reduce copper discharge.