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Control Valves (Rotary, Mixing, Temperature Control etc)
News Release from: Elga Process Water | Subject: Holistic water management
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 21 July 2003
Holistic approach to water treatment
Holistic water management means using a range of technologies to provide cost effective water utilisation not just in one area like a boiler, but over a whole factory site.
Even 250 years after the Industrial Revolution, steam is still the life blood of industry But boilers have changed dramatically
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 4 Feb 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The original Lancashire boiler operated at a heat flux of about 150kW/m2 - that's about half the flux of a modern packaged shell boiler.
This increased heat flux not only means greater demands on the boiler metal but also on the quality of the boiler water - total dissolved solids (TDS) specifications are lower, residual hardness levels are lower and corrosion control is more critical.
In addition fuel costs are rising and discharges to the environment - both aqueous and atmospheric - are increasingly restricted.
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There is a need for a holistic approach to water treatment.
And holistic water management is what Vivendi Water Systems water treatment chemicals are about.
Holistic water management means using a range of technologies - chemical dosing together with "external" treatment processes - to provide cost effective water utilisation not just in one area like the boiler, but over the whole factory site.
Let's take a simple example.
Many factories have both steam boilers and cooling towers.
Boiler blowdown, to control TDS, means throwing away water which has been paid for, treated by softening (at least), chemically conditioned and heated, all of which cost money - money down the drain.
If the softened water is fed to a reverse osmosis unit, the permeate produced will have a TDS of less than 5% of that of the softened water and, for the same condensate return, this will reduce the boiler blowdown by a factor of ten.
This will result in savings in the costs of raw water, wastewater discharge, fuel costs and chemicals.
It will also mean reduced environmental impact in terms of wastewater discharge and flue gas (as the fuel consumption is lower).
The high-pressure concentrate from the reverse osmosis unit can be fed very cost effectively into a second reverse osmosis unit which will produce a permeate of TDS about a quarter that of the softened water.
This can be used as cooling tower make-up and will reduce the cooling tower blowdown, once again effecting a saving in water and chemicals.
The cooling tower make-up will, of course, be soft so corrosion control will be necessary in the circulating water but, because of the reduced blowdown, the overall cost will be lower.
The message is that holistic water management can save money as well as being kinder to the environment.
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