USE OF PRODUCED WATER IN RECIRCULATING COOLING SYSTEMS AT POWER GENERATING FACILITIES

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate produced water as a supplemental source of water for the San Juan Generating Station (SJGS). This study incorporates elements that identify produced water volume and quality, infrastructure to deliver it to SJGS, treatment requirements to use it at the plant, delivery and treatment economics, etc. SJGS, which is operated by Public Service of New Mexico (PNM) is located about 15 miles northwest of Farmington, New Mexico. It has four units with a total generating capacity of about 1,800 MW. The plant uses 22,400 acre-feet of water per year from the San Juan River with most of its demand resulting from cooling tower make-up. The plant is a zero liquid discharge facility and, as such, is well practiced in efficient water use and reuse. For the past few years, New Mexico has been suffering from a severe drought. Climate researchers are predicting the return of very dry weather over the next 30 to 40 years. Concern over the drought has spurred interest in evaluating the use of otherwise unusable saline waters. Deliverable 2 focuses on transportation--the largest obstacle to produced water reuse in the San Juan Basin (the Basin). Most of the produced water in the Basin is stored in tanks at the well head and must be transported by truck to salt water disposal (SWD) facilities prior to injection. Produced water transportation requirements from the well head to SJGS and the availability of existing infrastructure to transport the water are discussed in this deliverable.