Ionics Receives $10M Contract for Texas Power Plant

Ionics, Inc. was awarded a $10 million order from Hays Energy LP, a limited partner of American National Power, to develop a water treatment system for a new 1100 MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant outside of San Marcos, Texas. Ionics' environmentally friendly solution allows the client to eliminate the wastewater discharges to the local San Marcos River. Instead the water is recycled, which also serves to reduce the power station's water consumption. Ionics' environmentally friendly solution allows the client to curb the wastewater discharges that could contaminate the local San Marcos River. The new power plant is expected to begin operating in 2001.

Ionics’ advanced water treatment technology reuses and recycles 98 percent of the wastewater from the plant’s cooling tower's local sewage plant. All the solids from the water are concentrated into a waste cake, which retains the remaining 2 percent of water. This will be disposed of to a licensed landfill site. The remaining wastewater is concentrated into a solid state and deposited in a landfill for disposal. Ionics’ system combines several state-of-the-art thermal and membrane-based technologies including: a zero liquid discharge" (ZLD) system utilizing Ionics’ proprietary RCC brine concentrator and crystallizer technologies; NORIT Ultrafiltration; Reverse Osmosis; and Electrodeionization.

Bill Heins, Ionics RCC Project Developer for the Hays Energy installation, notes, "Ionics was selected for this project because of its superior technical qualifications, experience and reputation. Approximately 90 percent of the integrated wastewater and

ZLD systems for power plants around the world are designed by Ionics. These systems have been proven to make both environmental and economic sense."

(Source: Ionics, Inc.)