Industrial water cooling systems are used to remove excess heat. As an unfortunate necessity often with high water consumption and traditionally the use of chemicals to prevent lime deposits, corrosion and legionella. The use of chemicals such as hardness stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors and biocides is not only costly, but also harmful for people & environment, beside that it also has a negative effect on a company’s CO2 footprint.
Water Alliance member RWB Water therefore offers a unique patented system to prevent these problems without the use of chemicals and to save 30 to 50% of (drinking) water use and discharge. Currently RWB is running several pilots and the preliminary results look very promising.
How does the technology work?
Lime deposit
The system pumps part of the cooling water flow through a reactor chamber. This contains a series of disc-shaped cathodes and anodes. By applying voltage to these, the electrolysis process is started, causing only the scaling calcium and magnesium (temporary hardness) to precipitate on the cathode. The other elements remain in the water in dissolved form. The elimination of this temporary hardness eliminates the need for of dosing hardness stabilizers
Corrosion and Legionella
On the anode side, OH- ions are formed, causing the pH value to increase. This, in combination with the still present dissolved elements, forms an excellent inhibitor against corrosion. The naturally present chlorides in the water are converted into active chlorine, preventing the growth of algae and Legionella. These two natural processes make the dosage of corrosion inhibitors and biocides unnecessary.
Automatic cleaning – low maintenance
By using disc-shaped cathodes and anodes, it is possible to build very compactly and, by means of the patented self-cleaning mechanism, to automatically remove the deposited lime from the discs. This makes the system low-maintenance, there is no down time and high cleaning costs are avoided.
Implementation
Due to the simplicity and compactness of the system, it can be very easily installed in both existing and new situations.
Benefits
The chemical-free cooling water treatment has guaranteed legionella control, water (and discharge) savings are 30 to 50%, via automatic cleaning – low maintenance is achieved. Via the system a reduced CO2 footprint is easily realized and with the reduced operational costs, the ROI is approx. 2 years (less than 1 year in new situations).
Source: RWB Water
