Development status and prospect of cooling water in power plants

Cooling water accounts for the majority of water usage in power plants. With the aggravation of water scarce all over the world, adaptive actions to optimize cooling system and improve water efficiency of cooling process are required. This review aims to provide a comprehensive insight of the issues involving water saving of cooling system for power plants. Limitation of current cooling technologies were firstly discussed. Then some retrofits and optimization of system designs that could significantly help to reduce water and energy consumption in power plant were presented. The possibity, complexities and challenges of some non-traditional water supplies such as reclaimed water and seawater recirculating cooling for power plant applications were introduced. The key technologies of water treatment and monitoring for water quality control were also illustrated and the water-saving effect brought by advanced technology was introduced. Finally, opportunities and challenges of management for cooling system were suggested.