Water treatment is used to optimise many water-based industrial processes, like heating, cooling, processing, and rinsing.
Poor water treatment interacts with vessels and pipes. Steam boilers can scale up or corrode overtimes and these deposits mean more fuel is needed to heat the water. Cooling towers can also corrode and scale up, but when untreated, they can become hazardous.
Water treatment is important as it will improve the quality of the water. Products containing water like drinks and pharmaceuticals, require the quality of water to be the correct standard. If the water is contaminated, this can lead to faulty and diseased products.
Untreated dirty water will encourage bacteria to develop, leading to the likes of Legionnaires disease, something that can have fatal consequences.
What is Legionnaires disease?
Legionellosis is a combined term for diseases that are caused by legionella bacteria, including the most serious Legionnaires’ disease as well as less serious conditions of Pontiac fever and Lochgoilhead fever.
Legionnaires’ disease is possibly a fatal form of pneumonia, and most people are susceptible to infection. Some people, however, are more susceptible than others:
· Smokers or heavy drinkers
· Anyone who has a weak immune system
· People over 45
· People suffering from chronic respiratory or kidney disease
· Suffering from diabetes, lung disease and heart disease
Where does it come from?
Legionella bacteria is commonly found in natural water systems, like rivers and ponds. Though it is found here, the conditions are rare for people to catch the disease from these sources.
Outbreaks of the illness happen from high exposure to legionella growing in built-in systems where water is occupied at a high temperature, enough for the bacteria to grow. These can be from cooling towers, evaporative condensers, hot and cold-water systems, and spa pools used on all sorts of premises (work and domestic).
How can you get it?
It’s commonly contracted from inhaling small droplets of water known as aerosols. The water temperature in all parts of the system may be between 20-45 °C, which is a temperature suitable for growth.
Other ways it’s contracted include:
· Water is being re-circulated or stored
· Some deposits can sustain bacterial growth, offering a source of nutrients for the organism to spread like rust, sludge, scale, organic matter, and biofilms.
Why is water treatment important?
Having clean water is important to human health. Having a water treatment system in place helps to remove any bacteria or undesirable components that may be hard to see with the human eye and provide quality drinking water.
Types of water treatment services
There are many types of water treatment services available for boiler and cooling system care.
Boiler water systems
Boiler feed treatment systems are put in place, to protect boiler unit components and piping from being damaged. The components that are present can be dissolved solids, suspended solids, and inorganic materials like copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, etc.
Without the correct treatment, boiler feed water can cause corrosion, scaling, and contamination of the boiler equipment. This can cause health problems to occur, expensive maintenance costs, increased fuel consumption and more. In many cases, even boiler failure.
These systems operate by eliminating harmful impurities before they enter the boiler, while also controlling the acidity and conductivity of the water. These systems work to filter, soften, de-alkalize, polish, and distribute the water. The processes are extensive and can vary from system to system.
Cooling tower system
Cooling tower water systems are made to protect cooling tower components from damage, due to the presence of the contaminants in the feed water, circulation water, and/or blowdown water.
These contaminants could include chlorides, hardness, iron, etc. If left untreated, cooling water can cause serious issues like corrosion, biological growth, scaling, and fouling of the cooling equipment. This can lead to several issues to occur, such as reduced productivity, excessive maintenance, and equipment replacement costs.
The process of treatment used in these systems usually consists of filtration, softening, side-stream filtration and chemical additions.
A well-managed cooling system water treatment programme will:
· Improve safety and regularity compliance
· Reduce energy and water savings
· Reduce downtime
· Increase plant reliability
Closed-circuit water treatment system
A closed-circuit system, also known as a closed-loop system, is a pipework design that allows water to circulate for heating or cooling purposes in domestic, industrial, and communal use. The design is manufactured to maintain the same water in a system for an unspecified period. Over time the water will degrade, and the system will as well.
A regular closed system, like water treatment and management, works to extend the life and increase the efficiency of all plant machinery/distribution circulation.
