Cooling towers concentrate water by evaporation and therefore concentrate dissolved solids in the water. They also act as air scrubbers; collecting dirt, debris and microbiological material that gets sucked into the tower. This material circulates throughout the water circuit and concentrates along with the dissolved solids as the water evaporates. As the concentration increases, the dissolved solids (mineral salts) reach the saturation point and precipitate to form a gritty sludge that accumulates and deposits on condenser tubes, heat exchanger surfaces and can harden into scale.
Doug Frassa
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Topics: Cooling Tower
This article is Part 2 of 3 of a series on nitrite closed loop treatment programs.
In Part 1, we introduced nitrite programs closed loops, discussing how they perform and some of the issues to be aware of with these programs. In Part 2, we will take a deep dive into the nitrogen cycle and how that can impact nitrite based programs, or quite simply, what are the technical reasons behind why your nitrite residuals keep disappearing.
Topics: Cooling Tower
When treating a closed loop cooling system, you may encounter some of the same issues or problems that you have experienced when treating cooling towers. Closed loops can experience problems that rob efficiency and destroy equipment through corrosion, scale, biological growth and fouling. The initiation of these shared issues may be different between a closed loop and a cooling tower system, but the water related problems to be addressed are fundamentally the same.
Topics: Cooling Tower
This article is Part 1 of 3 of a series on nitrite closed loop treatment programs.
About Sodium Nitrite
Sodium Nitrite has been used as a corrosion inhibitor for closed loop water systems for many years. Sodium Nitrite functions as an anodic corrosion inhibitor in much the same manner as chromate and molybdate. As an anodic corrosion inhibitor nitrite works to form a protective gamma iron oxide film on the metal surface. This layer is formed by the reaction of nitrite and dissolve oxygen and then kept in repair by the nitrite alone. Nitrite is not consumed to any practical extent since little is needed to from this film. It is this film that protects the metal surface from corrosive attack.
Topics: Cooling Tower
Good cooling system maintenance is good business, and good maintenance begins with a good water treatment program. Cooling system water quality and the treatment program directly affects the reliability, efficiency, and operating cost of any industrial or institutional cooling system.
Facilities must monitor and maintain control of four major water treatment issues – corrosion, scale, fouling, and microbial contamination – for optimal operational efficiency and system reliability. In return, they experience reduced equipment and operating costs for their cooling systems. This results in reduced unscheduled downtime caused by water related problems.
Topics: Cooling Tower
As the weather warms up, many facilities are transitioning from the use of boilers for building heat to cooling systems for air conditioning. During this process, it is crucial to have a cooling system commissioning program in place to reduce corrosion, deposition and fouling. The proper start up will help reduce critical issues that will unfavorably impact equipment reliability, efficiency and personnel health.
Topics: Cooling Tower
Energy efficiency of your boiler system centers around keeping your boiler clean and free of scale. Boiler scale can be a hard, tenacious deposit or a softer coating of insoluble salts, which forms on boiler tubes and walls. It’s most often caused by makeup water hardness, which refers to the naturally occurring calcium and magnesium ions found in water. These ions, when heated to the high temperatures inside a boiler, are what creates the scale and scale buildup. This buildup will not only cause a reduction in energy efficiency of the boiler, but can lead to boiler tube overheating potentially to the rupturing of the tubes.
Topics: Boilers
Organic and inorganic oxygen scavengers decrease or remove the level of oxygen in the water by reacting with the dissolved oxygen in the water. This reduces the accelerated corrosion caused by the presence of oxygen in a high heat environment.
It’s important to note that not all scavengers are created equal. The differences among them can be significant in terms of effectiveness, temperature ranges, cost, reaction time and type of systems where they can be utilized.
Topics: Boilers, Oxygen Scavengers
Organic and inorganic oxygen scavengers decrease or remove the level of oxygen in the water by reacting with the dissolved oxygen in the water. This reduces the accelerated corrosion caused by the presence of oxygen in a high heat environment.
The difference between oxygen scavengers lies in their effectiveness, temperature ranges, cost, reaction time and type of systems where they can be utilized.
Topics: Boilers, Oxygen Scavengers
Maintaining the proper amount of chemical feed is critical to operating an effective water treatment system. Efficient and automated testing and monitoring of chemicals can lead to lower operating costs and higher system performance. One option for better control and testing of chemical treatment levels is utilizing products that include a fluorescent tracer.
Let’s take a closer look at fluorescent dye markers, evaluate the benefits of this monitoring system, and explore some new products that reduce the cost of entry.
Topics: Monitoring Dyes
