System Specs: Recirculation rate: 10,000 gpm, ΔT across Towers: 17.6 °F. 

Location: Power plant in Northern BC switched to “High Cycle” Silica chemistry in April 2017

Makeup water chemistry: TDS – 400 ppm, Hardness – 290 ppm, Total Alkalinity – 340 ppm, Silica – 10 ppm, Iron – 2.5 ppm

Past: Used 13 different chemicals for cooling water treatment & Reverse Osmosis treatment to minimize blowdown water volume due to discharge restrictions. Despite heavy blowdown from cooling towers, they accumulated excessive amount of scale buildup on condenser tubes & cooling tower fill leading to operational issues. As per professional condenser cleaning company, 122 condenser tubes were completely plugged.

Now: We use 2 chemicals for well water pre-treatment i.e Bleach & Salt. No treatment chemicals are added to cooling tower water. Within 1 year, the chemistry dissolved all scale buildup from condenser tubes leading to zero plugged tubes. Moreover:

  • Cycles of concentration increased from 3 to 32
  • Blowdown wastage decreased by 12,557,160 Gallons per year
  • Ideal corrosion control. CARBON STEEL: 0.016 MPY, STAINLESS STEEL: 0.011 MPY
  • Ideal microbiological growth control, consistently <100 cfu/ml
  • Ideal heat transfer leading to efficient cooling – no scale buildup & no biofilm
  • No sludge conditioners, corrosion inhibitors & biocides used

 

System Specs: 4 ammonia compressors & 2 evaporative condensers with combined cooling capacity of 700 Tons

Location: Meat processing facility in BC switched to “High Cycle” Silica chemistry in Dec 2010

Makeup water chemistry (Avg): TDS – 180 ppm, Hardness – 120 ppm, Total Alkalinity – 120 ppm, Silica – 8 ppm

Past: Despite heavy blowdown, they had accumulated significant amount of scale buildup on condenser tubes & spray nozzles were getting clogged frequently. Overall, inadequate heat transfer led to high head pressure & tripping issues.

Now: Within one year, most of scale buildup was removed from condenser tubes. In previous years, all 4 compressors were needed during summer months. In 2011, 2 compressors were enough during summer months. According to the Energy manager, they saved at-least 112 KW per hour during summer due to upgrades in ammonia refrigeration system. Monthly savings are $3,545.00 (53,712 KW). These savings are result of following improvements - Installation of VFD’s on condenser fan motors, Upgrade of refrigeration system controls & Removal of scale form condenser tubes with silica chemistry. Moreover:

  • Cycles of concentration (COC) increased from 2.8 to 60
  • Evaporative condenser system operating at zero blowdown
  • Blowdown rate decreased from 35.0% to 2.8% (including regen waste)
  • Average Annual water savings - 450,000 gallons/year
  • Ideal microbiological growth control, consistently <1000 cfu/ml
  • No sludge conditioners & biocides used
  • Total treatment cost decreased by 60%

 

System Specs: Chiller & Cooling tower with capacity of 120 Tons

Location: Plastic injection molding facility in BC switched to “High Cycle” Silica chemistry in June 2020

Makeup water chemistry: TDS – 32 ppm, Hardness – 22 ppm, Total Alkalinity – 24 ppm, Silica – 2 ppm

Past: Cooling tower & chiller had significant amount of scale buildup. Major issue was microbiological growth & biofilm leading to corrosion, maintenance & inadequate heat transfer issues.

Now: Within one year, most of scale buildup was removed from chiller & cooling tower. Microbiological growth is no longer an issue. Moreover:

  • Cycles of concentration (COC) increased from 6 to 50
  • Cooling tower system operating at zero blowdown
  • Average Annual water savings - 80,000 gallons/year
  • Ideal microbiological growth control, consistently <100 cfu/ml
  • No sludge conditioners & biocides used

 

System Specs: 2 Trane Chillers & 2 Cooling Towers with combined cooling capacity of 900 Tons

Location: Major Shopping Mall in Alberta switched to “High Cycle” Silica chemistry in April 2011

Makeup water chemistry (Avg): TDS – 280 ppm, Hardness – 190 ppm, Total Alkalinity – 120 ppm, Silica – 4 ppm

Past: Despite heavy blowdown, system had scale buildup & microbiological growth was a constant struggle.

Completed 5 Years (2011 – 2015): Within 3 months, scale was completely removed from chiller. Moreover:

  • No Blowdown after 2 weeks at start-up (Mid May) till end of cooling season (November)
  • Blowdown rate decreased from 33.0% to 4.0% (including regen waste)
  • Average Annual water savings - 410,000 gallons/year
  • No scale inhibitors used in past 4 years
  • Ideal microbiological growth control, consistently <100 cfu/ml
  • One dose of biocide (7 Liters) at beginning of cooling season 
  • Total treatment cost decreased by 60%

Note: Blowdown required for 2 weeks at start of cooling season to remove suspended solids collected in cooling towers over winter shutdown.

 

System Specs: 3 Steam Boilers with combined capacity of 550 BHP

Location: EPS molding facility in BC, since 2005

Makeup water chemistry: TDS – 30 ppm, Hardness – 20 ppm, Total Alkalinity – 22 ppm, Silica – 2 ppm

Past: Used phosphate-based chemistry for steam boilers water treatment & sodium hypochlorite for cooling water treatment. Due to scale build-up on boiler tubes, they were also using an online cleaning chemical to remove the deposits. Another major problem was severe biological growth in the cooling water which required frequent cleaning of strainers to maintain cooling water flow. Bio-film formation also increased iron level in cooling water due to microbiological induced corrosion (MIC).

Now: Our treatment program has delivered following results:

  • Installation of automatic controls for blow-down and chemical feed has helped us improve the efficiency of steam system by optimizing make-up water and chemical usage. Boiler inspections show reduction of previous deposits and excellent overall condition.
  • Steam boiler make-up water usage per cycle has reduced by 20%.
  • Chemical cost for boiler water treatment per cycle has decreased by 35% as compared to the previous supplier.
  • Natural gas usage per cycle has reduced due to reduction in make-up water usage leading to savings of $20,000.00 per year
  • Ozonation system (rather than hypochlorite) as cooling water treatment has dramatically improved cooling water quality by controlling biological growth. It has also reduced iron level in cooling water from 3 - 4 ppm to 0.2 ppm
  • Shift engineers spent 15 minutes every 2 hours cleaning all cooling water strainers in the plant due to slime build-up. The frequency has reduced to once per shift leading to significant savings in man-hours and improved efficiency

 “We appreciate that you assumed complete responsibility of our wastewater treatment system, ongoing training & monitoring has been extremely helpful” – Sanitation Manager, Dairy Processing Plant

System Specs: Design capacity: 200 GPM. Average daily throughput: 130,000 GPD

Location: Milk processing facility in BC, since 2014

Effluent Parameters: 

  • Total Suspended Solids – 1500 mg/l (avg)
  • Total Oil & Grease – 800 mg/l (avg)
  • pH varied between 2 & 12

Simran Canada surveyed the facility and conducted tests with various chemicals & technologies. Best results were achieved by using dual pH control, Polyaluminum chloride coagulant and Anionic flocculant. Due to the natural floating tendency of sludge, treatment system uses Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) to separate sludge from treated water.

Design Parameters for treatment system: 

  • Capacity: 240,000 GPD
  • Total Suspended Solids: < 100 mg/l
  • Total Oil & Grease: <150 mg/l
  • pH: 6 – 7

Treatment process: Using automatic controls, wastewater is pumped to equalization tank, pH is controlled at 4.8 to maximize treatment efficiency, polyaluminum chloride is added followed by addition of anionic flocculant. Wastewater overflows to DAF unit for removal of sludge by flotation collected by skimmers & treated water overflows via final pH control system (designed to increase pH to 7.5) to sewer. Sludge is pumped from DAF sludge compartment to a holding tank by diaphragm pump. Due to the high nutrient content of sludge, it is used by other facility as raw material.

The system was commissioned in 2014 followed by training of operating personnel. Our customer is pleased with the results and appreciates our approach of complete responsibility. The fact that we designed the system, supply required treatment chemicals, provide training to new (& old) personnel, and monitor treatment system.

Ongoing training & monthly service visits ensure system performance and compliance.



 

System Specs: Daily throughput: 1000 GPD

Location: Corrugating facility in BC, since 2014

Effluent: Flexo wastewater, starch from operations and rinse water from ink. The process operates in 2000 Gallon batches, treated water is filtered with a filter-press.

Past: The system used aluminum chloride (coagulant), lime and anionic polymer (flocculant). Major problem was frequent blinding of filter press cloth leading to inefficient dewatering of sludge (sloppy sludge). Engineers had to clean the filter cloths & press with a pressure washer every other batch and cleaning process took approx 2 – 3 hours.

Now: Simran Canada surveyed the wastewater treatment facility and conducted tests with various chemicals. Best results were achieved by using sulfuric acid and Floccin-1106. The Floccin products are a “One Chemical” treatment that replaces coagulants, pH control (to some extent), flocculants and filtering-aids. They started using Floccin-1106 in 2014 and the results speak for themselves.

Benefits: There has been no need for pressure washing due to sloppy sludge, pH & quality of treated water is consistent, sludge volume has reduced by approx 30% due to drier cake, no need for DE pre-coat, overall chemical cost is same and significant savings in man-hours. More importantly, engineers can concentrate on critical aspects of production.