OREANDA-NEWS. July 20, 2011. Tata Power, India's largest integrated private power company, has many firsts in technological excellence and plant processes at its generation facilities which have been the benchmark for the power industry. Recently, the company undertook the groundbreaking for a side stream filtration (SSF) plant at Power House 6 of Tata Steel, Jamshedpur.

The new SSF plant with a capacity of 750 tons / hour is expected to be operational by January 2012 ie, six months from the groundbreaking day. The new plant will enable achievement of lower discharge, healthy circulating water system, reduction in water consumption; thereby, minimising maintenance cost and ensuring better management of chemicals.

Speaking on the occasion, PL Manjrekar, general manager, Jamshedpur, Tata Power, said, “This project is undertaken to reiterate the need for reducing water consumption and in line with the company’s policy of resource conservation. We are certain that it will help in the reduction of water wastage and better plant availability and efficiency. This is a step towards 'zero discharge', and shall contribute towards our commitment to sustainability.”

Turbidity in cooling water plays an important role in the performance of the cooling tower and the condenser, which in turn reflects in plant efficiency and also affects the life of the circulating water system considerably. High suspended solid content in circulating water causes extra raw water to be consumed, which was depleting the natural resources as well as impacting the financials of the company.

SSF works on the principle that continuous particle removal will keep the system clean. Thus, turbidity control through higher blowdown requirement is optimised.