Cooling tower water reclamation system and method

A system for reclaiming contaminated water from a cooling tower in a power generation system, comprising:

• an intermediate heat exchanger configured to receive a supply of extraction steam from the power generation system and to heat a thermal transfer fluid, wherein the intermediate heat exchanger condenses the extraction steam into first distilled water and discharges the first distilled water into a shared condensate line;
• a contaminant collection heat exchanger configured to receive the thermal transfer fluid heated by the intermediate heat exchanger, and to receive and concentrate contaminants in the contaminated water by boiling the contaminated water and producing process steam using thermal energy from the heated thermal transfer fluid;
• a concentrate condensation device configured to receive and further concentrate the contaminants collected in the contaminant collection heat exchanger, wherein the concentrate condensation device evaporates second distilled water from the contaminants and discharges the second distilled water into the shared condensate line;
• a condensate blowdown line configured to receive the contaminants from the contaminant collection heat exchanger and to provide the contaminants to the concentrate condensation device;
• a process, heating, condensing and/or electrical generation subsystem, separate from the concentrate condensation device, the intermediate heat exchanger, and the contaminant collection heat exchanger, and configured to receive a first portion of the process steam produced by the contaminant collection heat exchanger, condense the process steam into third distilled water, and discharge the third distilled water into the shared condensate line;
• and
• a process steam line configured to receive the process steam from the contaminant collection heat exchanger and to provide the process steam to the process, heating, condensing and/or electrical generation subsystem and to the concentrate condensation device;
• wherein the concentrate condensation device receives a second portion of the process steam from the contaminant collection heat exchanger and uses thermal energy from the process steam to enhance evaporation of the second distilled water from the contaminants;
• wherein the shared condensate line combines the first distilled water, the second distilled water, and the third distilled water and delivers the combined distilled water to the power generation system;
• wherein the power generation system boils the combined distilled water to generate the supply of extraction steam.

A method for reclaiming contaminated water from a cooling tower in a power generation system, comprising:

• providing a contaminant collection heat exchanger having a first side configured to receive a supply of extraction steam from the power generation system and second side configured to receive contaminants in the contaminated water from the cooling tower, and configured to use thermal energy from the extraction steam to boil the contaminated water to produce process steam and to concentrate the contaminants in the heat exchanger, wherein the contaminant collection heat exchanger condenses the extraction steam into first distilled water and discharges the first distilled water into a shared condensate line;
• providing a concentrate condensation device configured to receive and further concentrate contaminants collected in the heat exchanger, wherein the concentrate condensation device evaporates second distilled water from the contaminants and discharges the second distilled water into the shared condensate line, and wherein the concentrate condensation device receives the contaminants via a condensate blowdown line;
• providing a process, heating, condensing and/or electrical generation subsystem, separate from the concentrate condensation device and the contaminant collection heat exchanger, the process, heating, condensing and/or electrical generation subsystem configured to receive a first portion of the process steam from the heat exchanger via a process steam line, condense the process steam into third distilled water, and discharge the third distilled water into the shared condensate line;
• receiving a second portion of the process steam in the concentrate condensation device;
• and
• extracting thermal energy from the process steam and providing the extracted thermal energy to the concentrate condensation device;
• using the extracted thermal energy from the process steam to enhance evaporation of the second distilled water from the contaminants;
• combining the first distilled water, the second distilled water, and the third distilled water within the shared condensate line and delivering the combined distilled water to the power generation system via the shared condensate line;
• and
• boiling the combined distilled water at the power generation system to generate the extraction steam.