Subscribewhat happens when something goes wrong?
No Spare Capacity
Water with 0.1µS/cm conductivity and less than 20 ppb of silicon is not easily produced yet, without it, the boilers used in modern power generation plant cannot operate. In spite of this, the economics of competition in the power industry are pushing water treatment systems to the limit; there's little time for maintenance, and no spare capacity to cover breakdowns or changes in mains water quality.
Water quality changes can be a big problem. Seasonal algal growth on a reservoir may increase organic content, leading to fouling of ion-exchange resins and reverse-osmosis membranes. Or the supplier may change the water source from river to borehole, or vice versa, dramatically altering the amount of dissolved solids. This can have a devastating effect on the water treatment plant.
Mobile Plant - The Quickest Solution
Whatever the reason for water treatment problems, the quickest solution is invariably to hire a trailer-mounted mobile water treatment system. ELGA Process Water's AQUAMOVE mobile units are a good example, and can be on the road within two hours, day or night, 365 days a year. Mobile units are modular, so any processes can be combined as needed to suit the water source.
The most widely used packages are reverse osmosis and de-ionisation. Deionisation trailers typically provide two ion-exchange streams that can run in sequence or parallel, and which are capable of producing 100m3/h of 0.1µS/cm water. Equipment is installed in a standard 40-foot trailer with its own heating and lighting to provide an environment just like an ordinary plant room.
Zero Discharge On Site
When exhausted, the complete trailer is returned to the supplier for regeneration, which means zero discharge on site, and no problems of handling or disposing of regenerant chemicals. The fixed on-site chemical systems can, therefore, be completely isolated to allow repair or maintenance.
Reverse osmosis plant is larger than ion exchange systems, so containerised reverse osmosis units have lower flowrates. A typical container-mounted unit is capable of producing 25m3/h of permeate with conductivity better than 20µS/cm in a single pass. This can be reduced to 5µS/cm by configuring two units in series, and higher flow rates can be achieved by connecting units in parallel.
Flexible Pre-Treatment
Pre-treatment is usually provided by separate pressure vessels that can be charged with a variety of filtration, ion-exchange, adsorption or conditioning media. This concept is very versatile, and offers options to suit almost any application.
Many power generation facilities, chemical works and other manufacturers now hire temporary plant to cover planned maintenance shutdowns of their water treatment installations, or to trial the processing of water from alternative sources.
Some even hire plant on a long-term basis, when capital investment in a permanent installation would not be repaid within the life the project. Emergency deployment remains, however, the most challenging application for mobile plant.
Mobile plant can be deployed very quickly, but problems can still arise for relatively minor reasons, such as the wrong type of connection, method statement approval or lack of a local power supply.
Planning Pays Dividends
In an emergency, there is never time to take a formal approach to these things, which is why a little forethought, contingency planning and discussions with an expert like ELGA Process Water can really pay dividends.
The engineers from ELGA Process Water 's AQUAMOVE team will visit your site to carry out a survey and produce a contingency plan for the event of water treatment plant failure. AQUAMOVE offer two types of contingency plan, the free of charge ReAct plan, or, as selected by many customers, the PreAct plan offering preferential availability and discounts.
Whichever plan you choose, you can be sure, one day, when that emergency comes, ELGA Process Water will be there to help.