Biofouling Management in the Cooling Circuit of a Power Industry Using Electrochemical Process

Biofouling is one of the major issues in the power industry using seawater for cooling and other purposes. Presence of biological organisms such as bacteria and algae that could foul pipes and expensive equipments need to be managed from economical and safety point of view. Generally, the biofouling problem is aggravated in hot climate regions. Various means of disinfection processes are available for this purpose, such as chlorination, UV or ozone. In the present study electrochemical technology for the production of sodium hypochlorite was evaluated for onsite disinfection of seawater for applications in a nuclear power industry. A continues flow laboratory scale experimental setup was fabricated and influence of various operating parameters such as electrode material, applied current density, power consumption, surface area of electrode and interelectrode spacing were evaluated. It was found that efficiency of the electrochemical disinfection process was strongly dependent on these studied operating parameters. It was concluded that the production of sodium hypochlorite on site using an electrochemical process is a feasible and promising option for the power industry using seawater as cooling and/or process water. An optimum design of the electrochemical cell was also suggested.