Cooling Tower Water Treatment

COOLING WATER TREATMENT

Our journey began 20+ years ago with conventional bleed & feed chemistry for evaporative cooling water treatment. After decades of significant improvements in dispersants, corrosion inhibitors, sludge conditioners & biocides, the chemistry still struggles with deposition, corrosion & microbiological growth in cooling systems. Sad part is that tremendous amount of water is wasted intentionally as blowdown. Energy-Intensive processes i.e., Reverse Osmosis & Evaporators used to minimize blowdown water wastage, have their own set of challenges due to scale buildup & microbial fouling. This is what we have learned so far –

Main reason behind endless struggles & water wastage is the approach to overpower natural tendencies of water. Simply put, all actions are trying to defeat nature. As you can understand, there is no chance of winning.

Let’s delve into main objectives of cooling water treatment:

Deposition / Scale: Nature dictates that Calcium Carbonate will precipitate if concentration is >20 mg/L. Applications in hard water areas, run well above solubility limit and constantly create these precipitates. The approach to keep these precipitates in solution by adding dispersants, sludge conditioners etc is trying to defeat nature.

Microbiological Growth: Nature dictates that microbiological growth will flourish due to ideal growth environment provided by cooling water i.e., warm temperature, plenty of nutrients, neutral pH & plenty of sunlight. The approach to stop microbiological growth by adding biocides is trying to defeat nature.

Corrosion: Nature dictates that without adequate passivation, metals will corrode. Due to accumulation of suspended solids & biofilm, corrosion inhibitors are not able to passivate metal surface properly. The approach to add more corrosion inhibitors is trying to defeat nature.

For ideal cooling water treatment, it is critical to perform well in all objectives because these factors work in unison & feed off each other.

“High Cycle” Silica chemistry is based on approach to work with nature & address root causes of Deposition / Scale, Microbiological Growth & Corrosion. Patented by WCTI Inc.

How “High Cycle” Silica chemistry achieves cooling water treatment objectives:

Deposition / Scale: Concentration of all minerals in cooling water are maintained way below solubility limits. Naturally, no precipitation & no need to feed dispersants, sludge conditioners etc.

Microbiological Growth: Due to unique operating conditions i.e., high TDS & pH, cooling water becomes bio-static i.e., inhibits microbiological growth. Naturally, no microbiological growth & no need to feed biocides.

Corrosion: Due to elimination of precipitation & biofilm, Silica - corrosion inhibitor provided by nature in makeup water forms dual passivation layers to deliver unmatched corrosion protection.

Ideal chemistry

Ideal chemistry for high TDS makeup water, high concentration of minerals works in your favour as compared to endless issues.

“High Cycle" Silica chemistry marks 10-year milestone in Canada. We were fortunate to find partners in various industries who were willing to step out of the box because science made sense. Extremely pleased & proud to say that Silica chemistry delivered exceptional results at every application.

“High Cycle” Silica Chemistry Benefits:

Energy Savings & Maximize Cooling Capacity

By removal of previous scale & biofilm deposits leading to efficient heat transfer
No acid or cleaning chemicals used

Water Savings

Minimize or Eliminate blowdown water wastage by maintaining 20+ Cycles of Concentration
Systems can operate at Zero Blowdown / Zero Liquid Discharge

Ideal Corrosion Protection

<0.1 MPY for Carbon Steel, Copper, Galvanized steel & Stainless Steel

Eliminate Microbiological Growth

No need to constantly battle microbiological growth
Bio-static conditions eliminate all bacteria from cooling water, including Legionella

Green Chemistry

No toxic chemicals used i.e., biocides, sludge conditioners, corrosion inhibitors etc.
Minimizes water consumption by minimizing blowdown wastage
Systems can operate at Zero Blowdown / Zero Liquid Discharge
No toxic chemicals discharged to the environment
Reuse boiler blowdown
Reuse treated wastewater

Economical Benefits

Typically reduces total treatment cost by 50% or greater
Minimizes maintenance, repair & replacement costs by eliminating scale & biofilm deposits & minimizing corrosion
Maximize system efficiency
Reduced testing and operator time

Reuse Boiler Blowdown & Treated Wastewater without RO pre-treatment

Due to unique operating conditions, “High Cycle” chemistry allows us to use Boiler blowdown & Treated wastewater as makeup water for cooling towers. No need for reverse osmosis pre-treatment.

Our proprietary softener & controls design with 24/7 monitoring can help you eliminate hardness leakage by monitoring every softener regeneration process and generating a proactive alarm if key parameters are not achieved. The unit is still in stand-by mode & engineers have 8+ hours to resolve the issue.