Chemical Plant Boiler and RO System Optimization
Installer
HydroFLOW West Inc. – HydroFLOW Master Distributor in the US Pacific.
Customer
Chemical Plant in Wapato, Washington, USA.
Application
600 HP and 700 HP low pressure diesel steam boilers, and RO sytem.
Installed units
One HydroFLOW i60 unit was installed on the water line, after the softener, which provides make-up water to the DA tank. Two HydroFLOW i60 units were installed on the incoming water line feeding each steam boiler. One HydroFLOW i60 was installed on the water line feeding the RO system.
Background
Due to excessive limescale accumulation, the diesel steam boilers were on the verge of being decommissioned for a week in order to be acid cleaned; a process that typically costs over $15,000. In addition, there was a strong possibility the steam boilers required replacement ($350K each). The head of maintenance decided to evaluate HydroFLOW’s ability to clean the steam boilers and possibly avoid acid cleaning.
Success factor
Remove scale deposits from the steam boilers, DA tank and pipes without the need to acid clean and lose a week’s worth of production time.
Results
- Within a few days, soft chunks of grayish and reddish scale and “putty” (wet calcite crystals) began washing out via blow-down.
- Immediately following installation and after consulting with the manufacturer of the steam boilers; the maintenance supervisor increased blow-down frequency to every two hours for the initial 2.5 months. Increasing the blow-down frequency accelerated the removal of scale deposits from the system. Currently, the steam boilers are being blown down 3 times a day.
- The water softener was bypassed less than a month after installation, which led to acceleration in the removal of scale from the system.
- Chemicals are yet to be reduced. Note: Following a water analysis by a HydroFLOW representative, some chemical reduction can be achieved. See below Steam Boiler Questions & Answers and Water Test Requirements for additional information.
- Within 2.5 months, the stack temperature of each steam boiler reduced from approximately 650 to 400 degrees F, indicating increased efficiency.
- Within 2.5 months, fuel consumption went down from 400 to 275 gallon per day; which translates to roughly $150K savings annually (return on investment of 2-3 months).
- Due to the great results, the customer decided to delay the possible replacement of the steam boilers ($350K each).
- A significant improvement in the production RO water flow rate was achieved within two weeks. Exceptional improvement was attained as soon as the water softener was bypassed; end of day water levels in the holding tank increased dramatically.
- Within a few weeks, production capacity went up from 12,000 to 18,000 gallons per day.
For the full case study please click on the PDF