WATER TREATMENT METHOD TO REMOVE DISSOLVED OXYGEN THEREFROM

9725 This specification discloses a method of treating water which contains oxygen dissolved therein to scavenge the oxygen therefrom and reduce the corrosiveness of the water. A sulfur-containing fuel is burned in a flue gas generator to generate a flue gas containing sulfur oxides and the flue gas is scrubbed with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution to convert the sulfur oxides to a mixture of sodium sulfite and sodium bisulfite, the mixture being referred to generally as sodium sulfites. Ascorbic acid is included in the reaction to prevent the oxidation of the sodium sulfites to sodium sulfates and the sodium sulfites and ascorbic acid are recovered for use as an additive to scavenge oxygen from water. This additive is injected into an oxygen-containing water in an amount sufficient to scavenge the dissolved oxygen from the water. A catalyst may also be added to the water to catalyze the reaction of the sodium sulfites and oxygen.