Microbiological problems in cooling water systems cost businesses billions of dollars each year due to high energy costs, production losses, unscheduled maintenance, and replacement of corroded parts. Poor microbiological control can also lead to unsafe operating conditions, such as contamination by the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease. While this article focuses on biocide contact time, there are many factors to consider when choosing the correct biocide, including:

In terms of raw energy efficiency and the ability to provide precise cooling under fluctuating load conditions, recirculating evaporative cooling water systems with chillers or heat pumps are the most efficient way to remove heat from a process or building air. However, adiabatic cooling systems can be a good fit with an overall lower cost for heat removal in some climates and applications.

The pandemic has been challenging for many small brewers. Although draft beer sales in the US were down more than 40% in 2020, the number of craft breweries increased to an all-time high of 8,764. The popularity of these smaller breweries shows their resilience to weathering the worst of economic conditions. Although each brewery has a unique brewing style and operation, they all require the use of steam to brew. Proper boiler operation and maintenance is important to ensure an uninterrupted steam supply during brews. However, due to how small breweries operate, effectively managing oxygen corrosion can be very challenging.

Water treatment makes good economic sense. An effective water treatment program helps maximize the life, efficiency, reliability, and safety of boiler and cooling systems and minimizes total operating costs. Water treatment only represents a small percentage of the costs associated with operating a boiler or cooling system. However, this small percentage dramatically influences the total operating costs (fuel, water, maintenance, and labor).

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.

Evaporative condensers are commonly used for heat rejection in low temperature ammonia refrigeration applications in cold storage and food processing plants. Although often confused with standard cooling towers, there are some key differences between evaporative condensers and the cooling tower systems used in HVAC applications. Understanding these differences and the challenges they present is important for water treatment program success.

Transferring heat into a process or rejecting excess heat from your facility is critical to keeping your facility up and running. Failure to transfer heat effectively to and from your equipment and processes may lead to increased operating costs, downtime, unscheduled maintenance, and reduced equipment life. Heat always flows from higher temperature to lower temperature in one of three ways: conduction, convection, and radiation.