Industrial applications
Perhaps no other
commercial market has as many varied applications to offer as
manufacturing plants. Most factories have built-in opportunities for
water treatment applications ranging from cafeterias (food service) to
boiler and cooling- tower pre-treatment.
The presence of hardness salts (calcium and magnesium
ions) in the make up water supplies to boilers, cooling and process waters
can have a serious impact on their performance. Loss of heat transfer in
boilers and poor cooling in re-circulating cooling systems results in an
increase in both energy and water consumption, and an increase in
operating costs.
However,
there are other applications where the benefits of water treatment are
even greater. One is WATERJET CUTTING, which is a
high pressure machine that operates in the range of 35,000 to 60,000 psi. Waterjet cutting, was initially used in the automotive and
aerospace industries and is now in all types of plants from diaper to
food processing and glass manufacturers. Without proper water
treatment, the maintenance costs rapidly increase due to clogging of the
orifices. This translates into production downtime from high water jet
orifice nozzle replacement costs, intensifier pump repairs, valve
replacements and reduced seal life.
The two major
contaminants in water jet cutting are particulate matter (sediment) and
total dissolved solids, primarily hardness. Particulate matter causes
rapid orifice wear and intensifier pump problems. The major
manufacturers
provide cartridge filters ahead of the intensifier in a 1 0 micron to 5
micron to 0.5 micron pre-filter series of polishers. However, they do
not provide any other water treatment needs to the end user. This
leaves the end user to deal with the TDS and hardness related problems.
The major cost benefit is orifice life. If the orifice is not perfectly round or if
the edge leading into the orifice is not sharp and clean the jet stream
will not be coherent (correctly concentrated). A published study in
comparing orifice life was based on a hardness of 8 gpg and a TDS of 165
mg/L. Without treatment (other than the pre-filters) within 34 hours
of operation the orifice became almost completely clogged. Using
softened water extended the orifice life to 78 hours before getting
clogged enough to cause defects. However, with the use of an R.O.,
another orifice was clean and open after 200 hours, still providing full
water flow for precise efficient cutting.
The study also mentioned
that about the same nozzle life occurred in high TDS water with
man-made sapphire or diamond orifices. Using, R.O. water allows the
operator to utilize the sapphire orifice instead of the substantially
higher cost diamond. The flow rate out of each orifice is only one
gallon per minute.
Another application
concerns plants that use water SOLUBLE LUBRICANTS to keep their
bottling-lines operating efficiently, i.e.. soft drink, juice and
dairy manufacturers, etc. Even though these lubricants are typically
sold by the chemical salesperson, these suppliers know that if they also
have to sell them a descaler, the end user will object to the high
costs of this added chemical. Therefore, a small duplex softener
generally in the area of 1 0 to 20 ppm is an excellent alternative
solution to high chemical descaler costs.
Major coolant
manufactures advocate R.O. water in their PROCESS WATER
applications. The R.O. water is added to the coolants to lessen the
concentrate, extend coolant life plus reduce rust and residue which is a
common maintenance problem. For these applications, the size of the R.O.
generally varies from 500 to 3,000 canons per day.
CUSTOMER:
Cross Creek Apparel, a subsidiary company of Russell Corp located in
Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
PROBLEM:
The large retail clothier was having
problems maintaining dye-matching between lots because of the change in
water quality from run to run. As they use in excess of 3 million US
gallons of water every day this was a major problem.
SOLUTION:
They installed four 78" x 72" RainSoft softener tanks, weighing in at a
total of 60,000 pounds and each with a capacity of 3,600,000 grains.
Each tank holds 120 cubic feet of resin.
BENEFITS:
Cross Creek Apparel now have protection for
their multi-million dollar stainless steel equipment and a constant
water quality that will help maintain their dye-matching.
