ELCOGAS Chooses HPD’s Cold™ Process For Spain’s First Igcc Power Plant To Attain Zero Liquid Discharge

HPD, a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies company, will provide the wastewater treatment system for Spain’s first Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant owned and operated by ELCOGAS, S.A.. Located in Puertollano, Spain, this plant generates 335MW of power using coal from a local mine and petcoke from a nearby refinery as fuel. This gasification technology is said to greatly reduce emissions compared to standard coal-fired plants to comply with strict local and state regulations.

The wastewater generated from the gasification island will be treated using HPD’s proprietary CoLD™ Process. The CoLD Process utilizes evaporation and crystallization to treat challenging wastewaters generated in coal-fired power plants and requires no pretreatment steps. These effluent streams are often difficult to manage due to constituents such as highly-soluble salts, cyanide, mercury, selenium, and heavy metals. ELCOGAS required a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system to comply with recent changes in European and Spanish legislation for environment protection. This is the second full-scale IGCC power plant to utilize the CoLD Process worldwide.

The wastewater plant will be supplied by HPD on a design-build project basis. This includes all major and ancillary process equipment, piping and tanks, project and construction management, as well as start up and commissioning services.

ELCOGAS selected HPD to supply the IGCC wastewater plant based on HPD’s experience in ZLD systems and the ability of the CoLD Process to meet the strict requirements for the treated water to be re-used within the IGCC plant.