Cooling waters

Cooling water treatment

Cooling is one of the primary auxiliary services in the manufacturing industry and power generation. Cooling water circuits represent the most critical and widespread systems. Maintaining their efficiency is crucial for the overall performance of production processes.

Cooling water systems: what they are and the most common problems

There are many cooling water systems: open, closed, and semi-open cycles. The problems faced in their management are various and often interconnected:

• Various types of corrosion phenomena (penetrating, generalized, Galvanic, etc.)
• Formation of sediments in areas with low flow velocities
• Formation of encrustations in the heat exchange units
• Microbiological proliferation and formation of organic fouling or even MIC (Microbiological Induced Corrosion.)

Cooling water treatments semi-open systems with evaporative tower

The number of active substances and their correct combination is fundamental for correctly managing these systems. The most widespread and performing cooling circuits are generally semi-open systems with an evaporative tower, which exploit the latent heat of water evaporation to dispose of the calories removed from the processes continuously.

These are often particularly complex systems because the analytical values ​​of the water can vary exceptionally quickly. That’s why potential issues can affect different areas of the process. Circuits with the evaporative tower have the highest water consumption.

The increasing scarcity of water sources makes it essential to exploit them as much as possible and reduce consumption to make any industrial settlement sustainable.

Water saving for cooling systems: Celko Chemical solutions

Celko Chemical has focused over the years on developing advanced chemical technologies capable of providing treatment for the cooling water of evaporative towers. As a result, the company guarantees the absence or minimization of the phenomena described above but, simultaneously, an exponential increase in water’s economy.

Water saving is achieved by growing the number of concentrations held in the tower to the maximum possible compatibility with the raw water sources’ chemical characteristics. It prevents corrosion and encrustation risks even at extremely high hardness, salinity, and alkalinity values.

Examples of water-saving cooling water treatments

A practical example of water saving about the increase in the number of concentrations:

MU = Reintegration BD = Purge

In the practical example shown in the graph, it is noted that maintaining a number of concentrations of 1.5 il the user consumed 9.38 m3 / h of water; for the same structure, the only increase in the number of concentrations to 2.5, thanks to the high quality of the Celko treatment, meant a water consumption of only 5.21 m3 / h.

For the customer taken as an example in the graph, the total annual water saving with 330 working days H24, converting the treatment to Celko Technology, was:

4.17 m3 / h x 24 x 330 days = 33,026.4 m3year

of water saved for a single and small tower.

As a consequence of the reduction of the total quantity of water to be treated, also the mass of Chemicals to be used has been lowered, with a further decrease in the annual cost.

Eco-sustainable cooling waters treatment: avoid wasting water.

Considering the ever-growing scarcity of usable water sources, true sustainability lies first and foremost in making the most of the natural resources available to us and avoiding waste.

Specific “Tower Calc” calculation programs allow you to constantly check the operating conditions of the systems, with a projection of energy and mass balances and constant updating of treatment costs.

Discover all Celko Chemical industrial water treatments.