Product category:
Process and OEM Valves
News Release from: Elga Process Water | Subject: RO/CDI
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 21 July 2003
Combination process meets pure water
requirements
When the ageing water treatment plant at the company's Southampton plant showed signs of reaching the end of its useful life, Ford decided it was time to invest in a new facility.
Ford is very proud of the paint finish on its top-selling Transit van so, when their Southampton paint shop's ageing water treatment plant showed signs of reaching the end of its useful life, Ford decided it was time to invest in a new facility Although the control of the chemistry is all-important in the degreasing and phosphating stages, it's the quality of rinse water that ultimately determines the cleanliness of the surface which is so crucial to a blemish-free topcoat
To meet Ford's exacting paint finish standards, the spray rinses are deionised water as is the water used for making up the electrocoat bath.
The old Permutit deioniser produced water of 5uS/cm, so Ford approached Vivendi Water Systems, which now owns Permutit, with a view to purchasing a replacement ion exchange plant that would meet the same quality criteria.
At least that was the intention until Project Manager Peter Brown went to a Ford environmental conference in Barcelona.
"The ion exchange plant is regenerated with concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated caustic soda", says Brown.
"Both chemicals are very hazardous and I have always worried about the possibility of accidents or spillages.
On top of that, the chemicals end up being discharged into the environment".
What Brown heard about at the conference was RO/CDI, a combination of reverse osmosis (RO) and continuous deionisation (CDI) originally developed by Ionpure (also now part of Vivendi Water Systems), which produces high purity water without using any hazardous chemicals.
And that fits perfectly with Ford's environmental goals.
Except for the annual three weeks shutdown, the paint line operates twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.
The operators and maintenance crew were familiar with ion exchange and knew what to do in an emergency.
The membrane processes represented a new, and largely unknown, technology.
Vivendi Water Systems has had a large number of RO/CDI systems in operation in major pharmaceuticals factories for over five years, so was able to offer warranties on membrane life based on real experience.
They also provided full training for the plant operators and maintenance technicians and, with a twenty-four hour telephone helpline and over 100 field-based technicians to provide backup, the Ford team soon gained confidence in the plant.
The old plant had to be decommissioned and the new one installed in a three-week annual shutdown.
Any delays would have meant having to lose production worth many thousands of pounds a day.
The small footprint of the RO/CDI system meant that it could be built it in an adjacent vacant plant room with the old plant remaining in service until the new plant was commissioned.
The 22m3/h plant at Ford, Southampton - the largest RO/CDI system in the UK and the first in the UK automotive industry - was commissioned in August 2002 and Peter Brown is pleased with the success of the project: "The RO/CDI system is certainly living up to expectations and producing water which is consistently significantly better than 5uS/cm".
And vivendi water systems is pleased to be helping Ford to maintain the high manufacturing standards of a great British icon - the Transit van.
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