ASPEN PLUS CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF BASIC RAW HARD WATER TREATMENT AND SOFTENING OPERATION

Abstract

Hard water can cause scaling concerns in pipes, turbines, boilers, and heat exchangers used in mining, oil and gas, and industrial applications. It also interferes with nearly every housekeeping chore, from laundry and dishwashing to bathing and personal hygiene. ENRTL-SR and PITZER property models in Aspen Plus V8.8 were chosen during the modelling and simulation of soft water production from a hypothesized hard water stream containing sand. Findings show that, under normal conditions, about 3 m3 of soft pure water can be generated from approximately 40 m3 of raw water using right unit configuration and treatment solvent proportion. Drawbacks which would have address several limitations faced during the simulation, as concluded, can be solved using suggested alternative software tools. Water treatment scientist should try to simulate the same process using Aspen Plus utilizing real data from an existing water treatment facility to correctly test for effectiveness of the software tool. Modification of several existing water treatment plants across the globe to soften water produced is recommended, given its suitability for both domestic and industrial use.

Keywords

• water treatment
• pitzer model
• hard water
• contaminated water
• water quality standards