I. Challenges
A high-volume beverage plant in Puerto Rico was processing well water at 85% recovery. The plant was performing monthly chemical cleanings and needed to replace the system’s 78 membrane elements every year. As a result:
- The emergency shut downs, chemicals, and membrane costs were climbing as membrane rejection was continually decreasing dramatically over the course of the year.
- The plant was performing monthly chemical cleanings affects maintenance costs.
- The cleaning frequency was negatively affecting membrane longevity.
II. Approach
Garratt-Callahan’s water treatment professionals began to troubleshoot the system. They uncovered a faulty check-valve that allowed chlorine from a post-treated permeate source to reach the membranes. This caused damage wrestling in lower membrane salt rejection.
System corrections included the following to prevent deposition and fouling of the membrane:
- Improved cleaning chemical quality
- Treating the RO units with G-C’s antiscalant formula
- ORP monitoring
- Check-valve monitoring
- Acid feed reduction
III. Results
The combination of G-C’s expertise in RO systems, equipment and leading chemical treatments yielded substantial long-term performance benefits. The team’s resources and corrective actions resulted to the following:
- Cleaning frequency reduced from once every 30 days to once every 45 days
- Membrane replacement rate dropped from 78 to 39 elements per year
- Membrane life continued to increase from approximately one to four years
- Better quality of water
- Annual savings of over $60,000 per year over the subsequent four years
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