Industrial Water Treatment

On the industrial scale, most industrial companies have expensive machinery that needs specific input water requirements otherwise it can end up in costly repairs sooner or later, especially because of the quality of input water. if industrial companies take it lightly, Poorly managed water treatment can lead to the corrosion of costly equipment and result in countless other expensive issues. a proper industrial water treatment system must take all these specific needs into account for designing and producing an industrial water treatment system that can ensure a seamless flow of treated water for use at an industrial facility. Industrial water treatment systems meet a variety of purification and separation needs. it performs a critical role in protecting against risks and rising operating costs, as well as the sustainability of your business. 

What’s the Point of Industrial Water Treatment?

An industrial water treatment system treats water so it is more appropriate for a given use it is a process utilized before certain industrial processes or after certain industrial processes whether for consumption, manufacturing, or even disposal. For example, your company may have water that needs to be treated before going to a boiler or a cooling tower. each system will vary depending on the facility’s needs. Many of the technologies that make up these systems can be similar. Other industrial water treatment uses are for the food and beverage industry for ingredient water or treating process water at an automotive plant to reuse or dispose of. In general, some of the most-needed industrial water treatment systems typically include:

  • Raw water treatment systems
  • Boiler feed water treatment systems - dependable at protecting the boiler unit compounds and preventing breakdowns in the pipes which occur due to the existing contaminants in the feed water.
  • Cooling tower water treatment systems - efficient safeguard for cooling tower elements against contaminants present in the circulation or feed water
  • Wastewater treatment systems - suitable for modifying polluted streams into purified water that can be sufficiently released into treatment facilities or the environment

Raw water treatment systems

Raw Water means untreated, unfiltered water from the ground, lakes, and rivers, Raw water is water found in the environment that has not been treated and does not have any of its minerals, ions, particles, bacteria, or parasites removed. rinsing, product formulations, or even human consumption if it is properly purified. 

Raw water treatment systems utilized during pretreatment and optimized for the feed water to enhance the product performance and process efficiency, are used for pretreatment and optimization of source water, usually, it will improve production efficiency and process performance for a particular application.

Boiler feed water treatment systems

Treating boiler feed water is essential for both high- and low-pressure boilers, boiler feed water treatment system must protect boiler unit components and piping from damage due to certain contaminants present in the boiler and/or makeup feeds. These contaminants may include dissolved solids, suspended solids, and organic materials, such as iron, copper, silica, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, hardness, and dissolved gases. Without proper treatment, boiler feed water can cause scaling, corrosion, and fouling of the boiler and downstream equipment and reducing the longevity of the expensive boiler/turbine process , which can result in costly plant downtime, expensive maintenance fees, increased fuel consumption, and boiler failure. In general, the higher the operating drum pressure, the better the quality of boiler feedwater that must be provided to the steam generation equipment.

boiler feed water treatment system must satisfy three main objectives:

  • Continuous heat exchange
  • Corrosion protection
  • Production of high-quality steam

Cooling tower water treatment systems 

Industries utilize cooling towers to maintain heat transfer surfaces and enable process heat removal and product throughput. In commercial or building applications, cooling towers are utilized for comfort cooling. If cooling tower water is left untreated, organic growth, fouling, scaling, and corrosion can reduce plant productivity, cause plant downtime, and require costly equipment replacements down the road. Depending on the impurities present in your water, any combination of these treatments that we mentioned below might best suit your facility and make up your treatment system. abrah's combination of cooling tower treatment technologies, chemicals, software, monitoring and industry expertise can help prevent these issues or aid in the recovery from a failure event.

Wastewater treatment systems

A wastewater treatment system is used to convert spent streams into effluent that can either be reused or safely discharged to the environment or municipal treatment facility.

The most appropriate wastewater treatment system will help the facility avoid harming the environment, human health, and the facility’s equipment, process, or products (especially if the wastewater is being reused). It will also help the facility curb heavy fines and possible legal action if wastewater is being improperly discharged to either the environment or publicly owned treatment works. The relative complexity of a wastewater treatment system will depend heavily upon the compliance regulations impacting your plant and the composition of your waste stream.

While the contaminants present in a waste stream can vary greatly from one process to the next, wastewater treatment systems commonly treat for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrates, phosphates, pathogens, metals, TSS, TDS, and synthetic chemicals.


Description of Industrial Water Treatments

Managing water treatment on an industrial scale involves a series of processes. The primary goal of industrial water treatment is to avoid the occurrence of scaling, biological contamination, and corrosion and to guarantee that water disposal standards are maintained. It is necessary to protect industrial process equipment such as boiler feeds, piping, and cooling towers from deterioration or failure from dangerous mineral salts. The overall system is capable of failing when there is an imbalance among industrial water treatment processes with vital components being susceptible to corrosion due to scaling conditions. While not all water chemistries will require each process, it is important to be aware of your options. The goal is to minimize risk at each stage of any water-based industrial process. Common industrial water treatment methods are:

  • Media filtration
  • Softening
  • Dealkalization
  • Reverse osmosis
  • Nanofiltration
  • Ion exchange
  • Ultraviolet sterilizers
  • Ozonation
  • Degasification
  • Chemical feeding systems

Filtration works to remove sediment, organic material, and turbidity. Softening removes hardness found in water. From here, dealkalization reduces alkalinity to minimize scale buildup downstream. While it may be sufficient for some applications, this process is often considered an antiquated solution due to the high operational costs and lack of universal effectiveness.

Two optional treatments that may provide you with the right degree of industrial water treatment include nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. Nanofiltration allows for the removal of bacteria and hardness, whereas reverse osmosis will go one step further and reject a significant percentage of the total dissolved solids.

Ion exchange is a chemical process where certain (unwanted) ions are exchanged for others, resulting in a new, more suitable water chemistry.

Choosing the Right Type of Industrial Water Treatment

These industrial water treatment methods are all valuable tools in treating water for industrial use. By understanding the overall concept of how industrial water treatment works, you can apply these processes to purify your water effectively