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Press Release

Russian Power Plant Saves 1.3 Million Gallons of Water Annually with GE Corrosion Inhibitor

July 14, 2015
  • Gas-Fired Power Plant in Volga Region Saves $120,000 in Cooling Water Operational Costs
  • Significantly Reduces Copper Corrosion in Cooling Systems
  • TEC VAZ VoTGK Honored with GE Ecomagination Award

TREVOSE, PA.-July 14, 2015-A gas-fired power plant in the Samara area of the Volga region of Russia saved 1.3 million gallons of water annually and reduced water consumption enough to save $120,000 annually by using GE’s (NYSE: GE) AZ8101 corrosion inhibitor technology. TEC VAZ VoTGK also decreased the rate of copper corrosion by 20 times and reduced the amount of copper being discharged into the Volga River by four times.

In honor of its notable reductions in water usage and decreased corrosion, GE awarded TEC VAZ VoTGK an Ecomaginaton award, which recognizes the achievements of industrial users for striking a positive balance between today's environmental, industrial and sustainability challenges. It is given to the top GE customers in environmental and economic performance.

“Our operational costs had been rising and we were being charged a penalty for discharging water with a high copper concentration. GE’s AZ8101 corrosion inhibitor allowed us to save $120,000 a year in cooling costs and to experience a 20-fold reduction in admiralty brass corrosion rates. Now our Volga power plant’s cooling systems run more smoothly,” said Vadim Nikolaev, director and chief engineer, TEC VAZ VoTGK.

The TEC VAZ VoTGK plant provides power, heating and hot water to the Volga automotive plant and a nearby city. The power plant consists of 14 boilers and 11 turbines, surface condensers made from admiralty brass and two open evaporative cooling systems provide the cooling to the steam condensers and auxiliary equipment. The makeup water for both cooling systems is raw water taken directly from the Volga River, and blowdown from the cooling systems is discharged back to the river.

Previously, the cooling systems were untreated, which resulted in high copper corrosion rates and the plant operated the cooling systems at low cycles of concentration to reduce the discharge penalty caused by the high copper concentrations within the effluent. To reduce the copper corrosion rates, GE’s inhibitor AZ8101 was added to the cooling systems along with implementation of a monitoring program to gauge the effectiveness of the cooling water treatment upgrade. The new monitoring program included copper corrosion monitoring with the use of pre-weighed admiralty brass corrosion coupons, copper analysis within the recirculating water and residual azole monitoring.

“It takes a lot of water to produce energy and water is a precious resource. By reducing the amount of corrosion, the TEC VAZ VoTGK power plant was able to also meet environmental regulations by not discharging copper into the environment and reducing the use of 1.3 million gallons of water annually,” said Kevin Cassidy, chemical and monitoring solutions general manager-water and process technologies for GE Power & Water.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com

About GE Power & Water

GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

Follow GE Power & Water and GE’s water business on Twitter @GE_PowerWater and @GE_Water.

Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
[email protected]
1-518-786-6488

Beth Coffman
Soteryx Corporation
[email protected]
+1 518 886 1076


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