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<br />~ <br />m <br />o <br />.4 <br /> <br />1. INTRODUC':'ICll ;...'lD CONCLUSICNS <br /> <br />The Depa~tment of Natural Resources of the State of Colorado is, unde~ <br /> <br /> <br />aqreernen~ wit~ the U.S. Wate: Resources Council, assessing aspects of develop- <br /> <br />ment of a fuel industrj in the Opper Colorado River"Basin. To assist, Water <br /> <br />Purification Associates has studied the monetarJ costs of disposal of the <br /> <br />wastewaters produced by coal gasification and oil shale retorting. The st~cy <br /> <br /> <br />is divided into three sections: <br /> <br />Coal Gasification <br /> <br />Surface Retorting of Oil Shale <br /> <br />Modified In Situ Retorting of Oil Shale <br /> <br />The conclusions are tabulated below and a very brief summary is presented <br /> <br /> <br />as Tables 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3. <br /> <br />1.1. Conclusions - Coal Gasification <br /> <br />Coal conversion pl~its producing gas generate t~o different major types <br />of was~ewa~er stre~s that are difficult to treat and/or dispose of~ The first <br />type are blowdown streams from boiler !eedwater treatment and cooling towers <br />~~at are highly concentrated in salt. These streams are of a relatively high <br />volume and are expensive to dispose of because the salts are leachable and may <br />contaminate under;ro~~d waters unless contained properly. Return to the river is <br />not an acceptable disposal option in the Upper Colorado River Basin. <br />The second important ~astewater is t~e wastewater stream condensed out or <br />the product fuel process lines. The water is derived from the hydrogenation of <br /> <br />oxygen in ~~e coal, from moisture in the coal, and from unreacted steam put ~~rough <br />~~e coal conversion reactor. The condensate flow rates are relatively large, show <br />a wide variation, and may contain large quantities of ammonia, carbon dioxide, phenols <br />and other organics. In most conversior. processes the condensate wastewater is 50 <br />contaminated that its release to the environment in any form is unacceptable. <br />Apart frem the prohibitive cost of evaporation ponds fer disposing of such a <br />1arge wastewater stream, ~onia and volatile" or;anic matter will cause se~ious <br />air pollu~ion if this water is stored. ~no~~er option is to use treated concan- <br />sate as makeup to a coo11~g tower because a circulating cooling system can ac=e?t <br />considerably more organic material w~d ammonia than would be permissible for <br />discharge to a river. However, the cooling tower blowdown then becomes ~~e <br />principal discharge point for"the whole plant and the water will con~ain, in <br />addition to the usual concentrated salts, residues of organic matter originating <br /> <br />1 <br />