Water is a vital part of today’s industrial and digital economy. Used to provide cooling, heating, power, and even as a product component, water systems come with both challenges and opportunities. When considering industrial water treatment opportunities, one must evaluate not only their merits but also their associated costs. Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) is a tool that can help justify the positive benefits of proceeding forward.

In the realm of industrial water treatment, maintaining the purity of condensate is paramount for the efficient operation of steam-boiler systems. Condensate is the hot, high-purity water produced as a byproduct of condensing steam in various industrial processes. It is very valuable but can contain impurities that, if left untreated, can lead to detrimental effects on equipment and operations.

Theoretically, the maximum hardness-removal capacity of a water softener can be calculated from the grains of hardness of the water to be softened, the volume of resin, and the resin capacity expressed in grains/gallon. The actual capacity of a water softener may be impacted by many factors:

The quality of water entering a boiler, cooling, or process system can have a significant impact on water, energy, and system efficiency. Raw makeup water can come with many different types of impurities, including dissolved and suspended solids, which can lead to energy-robbing scale deposits and equipment-damaging corrosion. Pretreatment equipment removes unwanted impurities from raw makeup water before they can cause problems in industrial water systems.

For decades, Chem-Aqua has provided custom treatment programs that solve waterside problems and make water systems more efficient. With representation in over 50 countries across the globe, we provide programs for water systems in manufacturing, food and beverage, healthcare, data centers, educational, office, government, and hospitality facilities.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a water treatment technology that separates dissolved contaminants from water by using specially-designed membranes. RO membranes are semi-permeable which only allow “pure” water to permeate through them while removing the vast majority of dissolved solids from the feedwater stream. RO applications can include drinking water production, power generation, steam boiler pretreatment, wastewater treatment, and the manufacturing of beverage, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical products.

Water softeners are ion exchange systems designed to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium ions prior to boiler, cooling, and reverse osmosis systems. Many different sizes and configurations of softeners are available, with selection based upon factors such as water quality, system demand, and the overall application. In industrial applications, it is imperative that a properly sized softener is selected to ensure that hardness is not allowed to pass to critical system components. Both over and under-sized softeners can result in serious problems due to hard water in these systems.

Waters from all over the world may contain suspended solids, microorganisms, and other unwanted contaminants that can cause damage to water systems. Heat exchangers, boiler tubes, cooling tower fill, system piping, etc. can become fouled without proper filtration. This results in a reduction in energy efficiency and increased maintenance repair costs.

Water softeners are ion exchange systems designed to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium ions prior to boiler, cooling, and reverse osmosis systems. The amount of hardness a softener can remove between regenerations is known as the softener capacity and can be expressed either in grains or in gallons. Capacity is important when sizing, configuring, or troubleshooting a softener.

Reverse osmosis (RO) produces high-purity water for use in many applications, including low and high pressure boilers, manufacturing processes, cleaning, and ultrapure water systems. RO offers numerous benefits that can save water, fuel, operating costs, labor, and more. Understanding how it works will help in the selection, maintenance, and operation of RO systems.