ECOsmarte® Planet Friendly brings state-of-the-art water treatment technology to the commercial water market. We offer customized systems for cooling towers, evaporative coolers and chillers, process and wastewater recirculation systems and complete point-of-entry treatment systems for commercial and multi-family applications. ECOsmarte® delivers the best available technology for bacteria and scale control in commercial uses. ECOsmarte’s® ionization process was first used in the Apollo Space Program to deliver safe drinking water and control scale in cooling systems. We have enhanced this technology with natural oxygen and uniquely configure it for each commercial installation.
Here are some of the many advantages of ECOsmarte® over traditional chemical water treatment for commercial and industrial applications:
- Substantial reduction or elimination of the cost of water treatment chemicals and their associated costs for insurance, storage, handling and disposal.
- Reduction in the amount of water used in open cooling water operation and the associated cost for supply and discharge.
- Elimination of the discharge of toxic chemicals.
- Facilitates EPA & OSHA compliance by eliminating chemicals.
- Treatment of water for applications where the use of chemicals is either too costly or the application itself prohibits their use.
- Descaling of systems that have lost efficient heat transfer, without the need for rodding or acid cleaning.
- Eliminates algae and bacteria, including difficult problems such as yeast and Legionella, with the use of a simple and very effective ionization unit.
- It is the right thing to do for your budget, your equipment and the environment.
ECOsmarte’s® commercial and industrial water treatment systems are a non-salt, non-chemical system that provides viral and microbial kill in the tower and closely manages the stability and solubility indexes for calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates, carbonates and silicates which are directly responsible for scale, deposit and corrosion problems in cooling towers. The ECOsmarte® System produces strong coagulation and flocculation throughout the tower. Coagulation and proper filtration control colloidal organics, silt, dirt and insoluble metals that produce galvanic corrosion, increased maintenance and down time.
With ozone and ionization gaining acceptance in cooling tower water treatment, ECOsmarte® ionic copper and natural oxygen system combines both components for our cooling tower management. Oxygen radicals (OH and O2) from the water itself provide more powerful, less corrosive oxidizers than ozone and are enhanced by the residual sanitizer, ionic copper. ECOsmarte® oxygen and residual ionic copper act as a powerful biocide that decreases or nearly eliminates the need to remove quantities of water from the cooling tower in order to decrease the concentration of organic and mineral solids in the system.
ECOsmarte® treatment reduces the need for chemical additives to the cooling tower water. In a properly installed and maintained system, bacterial counts are reduced, with a subsequent minimization of the build-up of biofilm on heat exchanger surfaces. The resulting reduction in energy use, increased cooling tower operating efficiency and reduced maintenance effort provide cost savings as well as environmental benefit and regulatory compliance with respect to discharge of wastewater from blowdown.
A cooling tower functions to cool a circulating stream of water (see figure “BEFORE”). The tower acts as a heat exchanger by driving ambient air through falling water, causing some of the warmed water to evaporate (evaporation gives off heat — providing cooling) and then circulates cooler water back through whatever equipment needs cooling (such as a chiller condenser). Typically, chemicals such as chlorine and chelating agents are added to cooling tower water to control biological growth or biofilm and inhibit mineral build-up or scale. The control of biofilm and scale is essential in maintaining cooling tower heat transfer efficiency. As the water volume in the tower is reduced through evaporation and drift, the concentration of these chemicals and their by-products increases. Cooling towers also pick up contaminants from the ambient air. To maintain chemical and contaminant concentrations at a prudent level, water is periodically removed from the system through a process called “blowdown” or “bleed off”.
The blowdown water and the water lost through evaporation and drift are replaced with fresh “make-up” water (which also contains minerals and other impurities). Blowdown water must subsequently be discharged to a local wastewater treatment facility or discharged onsite to the environment. The blowdown water typically contains little organic material, and the local wastewater treatment facility will usually charge extra sewage fees for accepting the water. These costs can be quite significant in the overall operation of a cooling tower. Discharge of the blowdown water to the environment onsite is coming under increasing regulation because of the contaminants typically found in blowdown water. ECOsmarte treats the “make-up” water with their state-of-the-art combination of dual copper and oxygen chambers and multimedia filtration (see figure “AFTER”). The oxygen generated will dissipate quickly and not be found in the blowdown water. This reduces the overall chemical load found in the discharge water, making it easier to comply with regulations.
Most ECOsmarte® Cooling Tower Systems include the following components: water and oil coalescing filters, particle filter, oxygen and copper anodes, and a monitoring/control system.
Field tests have demonstrated that the use of oxygen and ionization in place of chemical treatment can reduce the need for blowdown, and in cases where make-up water and ambient air are relatively clean, can eliminate it. As a result, cost savings accrue from decreased chemical and water use requirements as well as from a reduction of wastewater volume. There are also benefits to the environment with fewer chlorine or chlorinated compounds and other chemicals discharged. An ECOsmarte® system should require less maintenance per year than either a chemical or chemical/ozone system.
There is substantial evidence that ionization combined with oxygen also acts as a descaling agent. The premise is that oxygen oxidizes the biofilm that serves as a binding agent adhering scale to heat exchange surfaces. When scale build-up on condenser tubes is reduced, higher heat transfer rates are achieved. Increasing the condenser heat transfer rate reduces the chiller head pressure, which then allows the chiller to operate more efficiently and consumes less energy.
ECOsmarte® Planet Friendly West would like to speak with you about customizing a commercial or industrial system to meet your needs. Please give us a call toll free at your earliest convenience at (323) 660-3003.