Boron Removal of Steam Condensate from Los Humeros and Los Azufres Geothermal Fields in Mexico using Reverse Osmosis Process
- Key words
- Cooling Tower; concentration; boron; agriculture; drinking water; reverse osmosis (RO)
- Location
- Los Humeros, Mexico; Los Azufres, Mexico
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2011
- Session
- Cooling towers; Condensors; Boron; Water quality
- Language
- English
Abstract
During the operation of the Los Humeros and Los Azufres geothermal fields, the “Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE)” has detected that the steam condensate from the backpressure units and the condensate excedent from the cooling towers is practically pure, except for the high boron concentration, that prohibits its use for human consumption or in agriculture applications. According to this, the CFE has decided to implement the reverse osmosis process to treat the condensate steam from the back pressure units in los Humeros, and the excedent from the cooling towers from Los Azufres, in order to reach the international quality standards. In this paper a reverse osmosis process is presented, field tests results, as well as recommendations for commercial operation.
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