Stabilizing Cooling Tower Makeup at Data Tech Company

A U.S. data technology company uses multiple makeup water sources for redundancy and environmental sustainability, which created several water treatment challenges:

Variable chemical makeup of the sources, outlined in the water analysis
Variable incoming water volume for each source

Goals

Maximize reclaim water use and minimize chemical use without compromising heat exchange surfaces to help prevent downtime and minimize plant power usage effectiveness (PUE).
Maintain the ability to subsidize reclaimed water with city water.
Maintain cooling tower conductivity at a level that will not cause fouling but reduces cooling tower bleed.
Reduce cooling tower bleed to minimize water usage effectiveness (WUE).

Solutions

ChemTreat used programmed non-proprietary water treatment equipment. Specific water treatment chemistries were selected to provide protection during variations in water treatment makeup while maintaining water savings. Treatment was set up in the following manner:

Water meters placed on all incoming and outgoing water to maintain proper mineral balances.
pH control with variable speed pumps to prevent scaling from high-hardness reclaimed water.
Controllers placed on each cooling tower system. Benefits include:

-Volume regulation of differing makeup water
-Chemical feed based on makeup flow rates
-Remote accessibility with alarming feature reports
-Versatile, non-proprietary technology