Cooling Tower Water Treatment - Cooling by Evaporation

When trying to cool something down, there tend to be four main ways that one may use to aid the transference of heat. They are radiation, evaporation convection, and conduction. In cooling water treatment, we are predominantly concerned with the cooling effect of evaporation.

In our every day lives, we're all familiar with the way evaporation cools. When we work up a sweat, our bodies use this process to keep us from heating up, and it's the evaporation of the sweat from our skin that actually removes heat, cooling our bodies down as it does. This process of cooling by evaporation is known as an endothermic reaction.

In cooling tower water treatment, a cooling water system is designed to remove heat from processes or equipment by transferring it to water. The heat absorbed by the water must then be dissipated to allow the water to be reused. In an open, evaporative cooling water system, this occurs in the cooling tower or evaporative condenser.

A cooling tower is designed to maximise contact between air and water and, in doing so, encourage some of the water to evaporate.

The evaporation of just a small proportion of the water cools the remainder. In fact, evaporating just 2% of the water will achieve a 9°C temperature drop. When water is lost by evaporation in this way the mineral content of the remaining water becomes more concentrated. The higher the concentration factor the less water the system uses as fresh make-up).

Cooling by evaporation like this is relatively energy efficient and effectively conserves water by allowing hot water to be cooled and reused, rather than discarded. However, without effective water treatment and regular maintenance, significant problems can arise:

• Cooling by evaporation increases the dissolved solids of the water - raising the likelihood of corrosion, scale and deposition problems occurring;

• The increase in water temperature increases the potential for corrosion and scale;

• The retention of warm water in an open evaporative cooling water system increases the tendency for biological growth;

• A cooling tower is in effect an air-washer and will scrub corrosive gases, microbial nutrients, micro-organisms and dust from the atmosphere which if untreated can lead to increased corrosion, fouling and microbial problems;

• An evaporative cooling system is potentially a good growth environment for legionella bacteria and the spray produced in a cooling tower is the ideal means of generating the aerosols necessary to cause legionnaires' disease if adequate controls are not maintained.

Industrial Water Treatment - Objectives, Classifications and Applications

Industrial water treatment is a means to optimize industrial processes that are dependent on water consumption. Examples of these industries include cooling, heating, processing, rinsing and cleaning. This technique is employed in order to reduce not only operating costs but also to lessen the risks linked to contaminated water systems.

There are different objectives behind industrial waste water treatment equipment. Primarily it focuses on areas of scaling, corrosion, disposal of wastewater and microbiological activity. Alongside these objectives are different classifications for water treatment. Below are explanations for these subject matters on this industrial product.

Objectives of systems for treating industrial water

As mentioned awhile back, the objectives of treating water revolve around four areas. The first one on the list is scaling or the process caused by the precipitation of water mineral salts that result to solid deposit formation. The second one is corrosion which is often a problem taking place once metal is oxidized and forms into iron rusts.

The last two areas evolve on microbiological activities and disposal of wastewater. Microbes are often a problem especially in cold water systems. They often thrive in untreated areas and come in the form of flies, fungal spores, grass and dust. When it comes to disposal of wastewater, the main focus of attention is to provide a means to comply with wastewater treatment as required by the community. This is often dealt with in petroleum refineries and chemical plants.

Classifications of industrial water treatment systems

Water treatment for several industries is classified into three. Each of these treatment facilities has its own set of applications. The categories are boiler, cooling water and wastewater treatment.

A boiler water treatment makes use of a vessel to heat and treat water. It is essential in heating applications including those for domestic use and generators. It also provides steam for boats, trains and ships. The boiler helps transfer energy from fuel to the water before it serves its purpose.

The cooling water system on the other hand, makes use of cooling towers. These are devices that make use of heat removal processes. They employ water evaporation to remove heat from the system then cool it down to become a working fluid. This is important in oil refineries, power stations and chemical plants.

Lastly, wastewater treatment is a system that is utilized in various industries as well as in domestic residences. This is an industrial water treatment that aims at the removal of waste materials discharged by commercial properties and agricultural systems. With the correct processes employed, the objective of the water treatment system can be achieved.

How a Home Water Treatment System Removes Chemicals & Creates Delicious Drinking Water

Water softeners are bad for the environment because they add salt to the water system. Salt destroys plants and makes soil unlivable for plants for many, many years. Salt is extremely difficult and expensive to remove from water. Because of this, the state of California is trying to enact legislature to ban water softeners from being sold in California. Water is already scarce in California and the entire western seaboard is being forced to find ways to conserve and protect it's water supplies.

Salt softeners replace 'good' minerals like calcium with unhealthy mineral - sodium, for the purpose of eliminating "scale".

Water purification offers a non-salt and non-chemical alternative to ion exchange (known as water softening). It changes the "hard" minerals (calcium and magnesium) in the water, to their bicarbonate forms. This makes the minerals unable to form the hard scale build-up in plumbing and around fixtures. The other benefit of changing minerals to bicarbonates is that those minerals, which are beneficial to health, become more absorbable by the human body.

New water treatment technology not only prevents scale build-up, but eliminates existing build-up, extending the operating life of the plumbing and fixtures in the home. This is another benefit absolutely unique to this technology.

Water softening is widely installed in California and because it does not add salt to the water - will not be prohibited in California.

The water treatment system point of entry is approved by the Water Quality Association.

Water purification has a long history, and can provide results, of water quality tests before and after installs. Water testing has been done by many independent organizations such as the National Testing Laboratories of Ypsilanti, MI. As a matter of fact, water treatment systems include a pre-installation test of the well water by the National Testing Laboratory. The well system is then custom designed for the home owner to solve the particular problems of their well.

The entire water treatment process is a 'point-of-entry' system, which means it is installed at the point where the water supply comes into the home. It is therefor able to treat all of the water in the home rather than just at one or two faucets. This creates purified water for everything - drinking, shower, laundry, and the yard.

How to Find the Best Water Treatment System

How do you find the best water treatment system? First, you should consider performance variables of practicality and contaminant removal. Second, look at the most economical solution for your family.

Has your water been tested? If you have a well, testing should always be conducted. If you are serviced by a public treatment facility, it is sometimes advisable, as facilities do not test for all possible contaminants, only those that are regulated.

The most probable contaminants are liquid chemicals, compounds that are gaseous and sediment or solid particles, like traces of lead. Most liquid chemicals are removed by granular activated carbon, but a carbon block is more affective.

Water can channel around the carbon granules and elude purification. Bacteria can grow in the gaps between the carbon granules. The best water treatment system uses a special carbon block that also traps gases and sediment.

The pores are so small (less than one micron) that it will even trap cryptosporidium and giardia cysts. Those are parasites in an early stage of development that are resistant to chemical disinfectants. Infections can be deadly.

Tiny ions of lead and other metals, smaller than can be seen with the naked eye, are removed through a process called ion exchange. This process also improves the taste and mineral content, as the metallic ions are exchanged for mineral ions.

So, the best water treatment system is one with a submicron carbon block and ion exchange. How do you know which ones have it? If the purifier is certified to reduce cysts, THMs, VOCs and lead more than 99%, then those steps are included.

There is really only one kitchen purifier on the market that can do it, without using a reverse osmosis step. You don't want reverse osmosis because instead of using ion exchange to remove lead, it relies on a semi-permeable membrane that also removes any healthy mineral content.

Anything smaller than the pores in the membrane will pass right through, knowing this, the better units follow up with steps to remove chemical and gaseous contaminants. The thing is, you simply don't need the reverse osmosis step. It's just too expensive for most families.

The best water treatment system with submicron carbon blocks and ion exchange costs $125. The only reverse osmosis unit that can remove the same contaminants costs $650. In other words, you are paying $525 for reverse osmosis, when it is unnecessary.

You should also consider a purification device for your shower, since contaminates can penetrate the skin and the gases are inhaled in the enclosed space of the bathroom. Only two showerhead filters remove gaseous contaminants, along with traces of lead and copper.

There is again an extreme difference in price, but not because of reverse osmosis. This time it's because of the supposed benefits of volcanic stones.

The best water treatment system for the shower costs $67.99. Currently the manufacturer is offering a combo special that includes the kitchen and the showerhead system for $159.99. That's the best deal out there.

Is Your Water Purification Process Efficient?

You think your drinking water is safe? Maybe you've purchased the latest device and attached it to your faucet. It sure looks clean and clear. However, you really cannot tell if it is safe simply by looks alone. In the past, it was acceptable to take sub-par measures like boiling or using any old home filter to get "pure" water. But today, such methods are simply not enough for clearing out the many contaminants found issuing from your tap . Knowing more about the water purification process is a step in the right direction, as well as learning about the toxins that can enter your domestic supply.

Believe it or not, next to chlorine, lead is the most frequent contaminant found in tap water. This contamination usually happens when it travels from the main supply in the street to your home's faucet. That's why it's so hard to explain water purification on a large scale. The treatment typically takes place at a central location. Unfortunately people don't take into account what happens to their water after that.

In fact, most lead in drinking water comes from corrosion of lead piping, solder and other plumbing fixtures inside the home. As you may know, all of these types of plumbing fixtures are made with about 8 to 15 percent lead. It's also known that the EPA approximates that a very large percentage of homes have some type of plumbing system made with lead that can bleed into tap water. What's more, the EPA has determined that there any level of lead in drinking water is deemed unsafe.

One tip outside of filtration you can follow is to use cold water for consumption and cooking and especially for mixing baby formula. The reason for this is that hot water is more likely to contain higher levels of lead in it than cold.

Another way to safeguard your drinking water is to put a home filtration system in place. This is an important step in protecting you and your family from harmful contaminants. A twin-cartridge water filter system can be a vital asset and help you keep your children safer. The way a dual filter system works is that it employs two methods in the purification process. A combination of carbon filtration, ion exchange and sub-micron filtration is accomplished right at your kitchen tap.

Let me explain water purification a little further from a dual-filtration perspective. A dual system works to filter out chlorine, the problematic lead (mentioned earlier) and even pharmaceuticals and cysts (chlorine-resistant parasites). While filtering out all of this junk the system also works to keep the natural trace minerals in your water. A treatment product like this can be installed on a standard kitchen faucet. Be sure that when you are shopping for a system, you find one that can produce at least 30 gallons of ultra-filtered water per hour.

In conclusion, even natural spring water has to be tested before you know what kind of treatment it needs. So be cautious about the water you drink. Also, be aware of the local treatment process and how you can work to eliminate lead from your home supply. You will find not only is a home filtration process economical, but you can have great tasting water.

Drinking Water Treatment - How Contaminated Water is Treated

Drinking water contamination is a huge problem in today's industrialized society. Did you ever wonder how the drinking water treatment process works, and what needs to be done to protect ourselves?

In this article, I'm going to try to give you a quick guide on how our drinking water treatment is done, that is how our municipal water facilities treat our water, from the lakes and rivers to your home. But this method is still not adequate to protecting ourselves from drinking water contamination and ultimately your health.

The first stage of drinking water treatment starts with some type of pre-treatment. What this stage consists of varies, but what it does is to basically pump the water from the source, pre-screen it, that is to remove large debris like branches, and then store it. What follows might consist of pre-conditioning and pre-chlorination.

Then it might try to adjust the pH level. Below 7 means it's acidic and what they try to do here is just to bring it up to at least 7 or above, which would be alkaline.  

I know this might sound boring, but this step is important since, acidic water does a lot more damage to our body then alkaline water does. Our bodies will start to take nutrients out of our teeth and bones to try to level the acidity if the water we drink is acidic. Another scary fact is many facilities might not even use this step in its process to clean the drinking water contamination.

Now, most people wouldn't want to drink water that wasn't clear, right? So the next step might be to use a process called flocculation. All it does is basically throw in some type of small particles, and all the material in the water that gives a color will try to stick itself onto these particles and rise to the top and can be cleared away.

Now the problem is in the actual filtration or treatment of the water. Many municipal facilities use processes like a simple sand-bed filter, which leave a lot of contaminants still left in the water.  

What happens is the water slowly drains through a container of sand and anything that is smaller will drain through. The problem with this is, most of the time, the sand is coarse, leaving many chemicals and bacteria and viruses still within the water.  

Not only that, there are chemicals, especially synthetic ones that are smaller in molecular size than that of water, so that is not going to get filtered out anyways.

They also use many chemicals, including chlorine to treat drinking water contamination, which can be very damaging to our health. Think about it this way, many of the guidelines allow for 3 ppm (parts per million), but simple home test kits for a pool, only allow 1 ppm. If it's not safe to swim in, why should it be safe to drink?

Now, it's hard to cover exactly what your municipal water supply might do for our drinking water treatment. It could be one of the better ones, but since drinking water contamination is such a large dilemma that it is too costly for them to clean to levels that most of us would consider acceptable.

Since drinking water contamination is such a huge problem, it really is up to us to find a drinking water treatment process that can be added to clean our water. The drinking water treatment process I have found to be effective is that we to need a good multi-stage filtration product to filter our water once it reaches our homes.

Phosphate Water Treatment - Filtering the Good and the Bad

Naturally occurring in mineral deposits, rock formations, decaying plant and animal remains, and free ions in aqueous environments, phosphates occur in three forms, being orthophosphate, metaphosphate and organically bound phosphate. Phosphate utilised in commercial applications are termed apatite, which is a family of phosphates which exhibit high concentrations of chlorine, calcium and iron, among other elements in varying quantities and qualities.

One of the main commercial applications of phosphate is the removal of hazardous substance from wastewater and contaminated soils. Groundwater, surface water and soils can contain high levels of toxic chemicals which severely affect the quality of the water supply, as well as the surrounding environment. The utilisation of phosphate for waste water treatment, as well as in aquaculture, where it is used as a management tool to control nutrient levels and algal biomass in intensive farming are among the most popular commercial applications of phosphate.

In relation to waste water treatment, there are numerous methods to achieve the removal of toxic material, including oxidation, filtration, ion exchange, biological treatments and absorption methods. However, research has shown that the use of phosphate in an absorption process to remove toxic material from wastewater supplies is the most effective and suitable. Treating waste water with phosphate, due to the phosphates unique properties and qualities, has been proven to be stable under a wide range of environmental conditions. The ability to utilise a single method for waste water treatment under a range of temperature, flow and volume variables provides a distinct advantage for those charged with the responsibility of waste water treatment and management.

The use of phosphate in water treatment does not limit itself to large bodies of water. Many up-market dwellings and lodges now have decorative ponds, pools and even their own small lake. Golf courses are increasingly seeing the use of water hazards as both to increase the aesthetics and scenic attractiveness of the course while at the same time increasing the difficulty. Furthermore, water features are becoming regular sights within urban and regional parks. However, these water features, whether man-made or natural, tend to accumulate nutrient rich sediments and soluble ions which produce algal problems. Recent articles in newspapers though New Zealand have shown the issues that can arise when algal blooms and growths are not managed, including a complaints from local anglers who were frustrated by the fishing conditions and numbers of healthy fish in a number of key fishery lakes and rivers. Specially manufactured phosphate from leading suppliers of minerals, are able to remove nutrients from both the body of the water itself, while at the same time, being utilised as a sediment capping device.