Improved functioning of air compressor with cooling water treated by NovoTraqua®.

NovoTraqua® increased production capacity and quality of an air compressor by reducing scaling in cooling tower system.

Introduction
At increasing outside temperatures, the dew point of the produced compressed air exceeded the limit of -30°C due to insufficient cooling capacity caused by scaling of calcium carbonate scaling in a 1,5 MW cooling tower system. Due to this scaling the production capacity of the compressor was also limited.

Background

  • forced draft cooling tower
  • Cooling capacity : 1,5 MW
  • Max. skin temperature : 35 °C
  • Cycles of concentration : 2,0
  • Plate-Frame and shell-tube heat exchangers

The make-up water for the cooling tower is tap water. The regular treatment until 2016 was an all-organic program without pH control. To control the microbiological growth an ultrasonic system was installed in the cooling water.

Problems
Due to calcium carbonate scaling the heat transfer in heat exchangers of an air compressor was reduced. This resulted in a restriction of the production capacity of the compressor up to 20%. Also due to the scaling, the dew point of the produced compressed air frequently did not met its specification if the outside temperatures rises above 11°C.

Betere werking compressor door Novo Traqua

 

The customer decided to switch to a treatment with NovoTraqua® because this product was recommended by their customer that using the produced compressed air. Their customer is already using NovoTraqua® for over 5 years without any of the problems they were facing before.

Solution
Since 2016 our single drum bio-based NovoTraqua® was used to protect cooling water system against scaling and corrosion. The dosage of NovoTraqua® was controlled at a concentration of 150 ppm. The tendency of calcium deposition was followed by the Langelier index and the hardness transport balance (%). To control the microbiology, the ultrasonic system was replaced by a traditional chlorine/bromine treatment. Other set points of the cooling tower system, e.g. cycles of concentration and pH, remained unchanged.

Results
The dew point of the produced compressed air was always below the specification of -30°C at outside temperatures up to 18°C. Above this temperature the dew point of the compressed air was most of the time also below the specified maximum limit of -30°C. The cooling capacity of the cooling tower system increased by 50% since the usage of NovoTraqua®. This resulted in a 20% increased production of compressed air, while the quality of the compressed air also improved. No significant calcium carbonate scaling is visually observed and determined via analysis. The amount of microbiological fouling in the cooling tower was less during visual inspections.

Betere werking compressor door Novo Traqua 2

Conclusion
NovoTraqua® successfully prevented calcium carbonate scaling, resulting in a 20% increased production of compressed air. The quality regarding dew point of the produced compressed air improved significantly.

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