Case story
Investigation of alternative systems for degassing process water
A significant portion of the district heating in the Region around Fredericia is produced by Ørsted at the Skærbæk Power Station in Skærbæk. In addition to district heating, process water is also produced at the facility. This water is degassed in an existing degassing system operating at a vacuum of approximately 0.7 bar and a temperature of around 70°C. The result is degassed water with a very low oxygen content, which helps reduce corrosion in the district heating pipes. Currently, the degassing of large volumes of process water is carried out by heating the water using district heating. Ørsted operates a flue gas condensation system, which could potentially contribute to the heating process, thereby reducing the consumption of district heating in the degassing process. Ørsted wanted to explore alternative technologies for this purpose.
Process Engineering was engaged to calculate CAPEX and OPEX in order to identify the most advantageous alternative.
The process
Process Engineering was hired as a consultant to investigate three alternatives:
- Rebuild the existing degassing system and modernize it for automatic operation
- Use membrane technology and heat from the flue gas condensation system
- Rebuild the existing degassing system and use heat from the flue gas condensation system in combination with district heating
The project spanned one month and involved a consultant from Process Engineering, who developed heat balances, calculated annual energy and electricity consumption for each alternative, and coordinated with suppliers of piping systems, heat exchangers, membrane systems, and nitrogen generation equipment.
Weekly coordination meetings were held with the client to review interim results and plan the next steps. The outcome was a calculation report and a presentation summarizing the findings of the three alternatives, including a decision-making summary for stakeholders.
Service and scope of the project
- Technical report and presentation
- PFD (Process Flow Diagram)
- Heat and masse balance
- CAPEX and OPEX
- Comparative analysis of alternatives
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