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DoD Corrosion Prevention and Control Program demonstrates 20% make-up water reduction and 50% reduction in blow-down utilizing Zeta Rod Water Management Systems

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Link to USACE ERDC ReportThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research Lab (USACE ERDC/CERL) has pub­lished data col­lect­ed dur­ing a 24-month demonstration/validation project in which the  Zeta Rod® Water Management System was eval­u­at­ed for its abil­i­ty to deliv­er doc­u­ment­ed water con­ser­va­tion results while pro­vid­ing cor­ro­sion, scal­ing, and bio­foul­ing pro­tec­tion in open-loop evap­o­ra­tive cool­ing sys­tems. The report, titled “Demonstration of Non-Corrosive, Capacitance-Based Water-Treatment Technology for Chilled Water Cooling Systems” eval­u­at­ed sites at four mil­i­tary instal­la­tions in Arizona, California, and Georgia.  The study includ­ed sys­tems where the tech­nol­o­gy was pre­vi­ous­ly installed as part of a 2010 eval­u­a­tion (ERDC/CERL TR-09–20) and added sys­tems that broad­ened the range of water qual­i­ties and oper­at­ing con­di­tions eval­u­at­ed.

Results and obser­va­tions indi­cat­ed that the tech­nol­o­gy deliv­ered an aver­age 20% reduc­tion in make­up water usage and 50% reduc­tion in blow-down, while meet­ing or exceed­ing cri­te­ria for pro­tec­tion of equip­ment from scale, cor­ro­sion, and bio­foul­ing. Reductions in make-up water rep­re­sent a major water sav­ings for an instal­la­tion, while reduc­tions of blow-down water rep­re­sent a sig­nif­i­cant less­en­ing of load on installation’s waste­water treat­ment sys­tem. (The direct use of the blow-down water for grey-water pur­pos­es appears fea­si­ble, but was not demon­strat­ed.)

The tech­nol­o­gy was effec­tive in water treat­ment and deposit con­trol for a wide range of water con­di­tions, from very soft, cor­ro­sion-pro­mot­ing water to very hard, scale-pro­mot­ing water. The val­i­dat­ed appli­ca­tions are rec­om­mend­ed for con­sid­er­a­tion by deci­sion mak­ers to reduce mil­i­tary instal­la­tion chem­i­cal uti­liza­tion and sup­port Department of Defense Net Zero Water goals.

Click Here to link to the Full Study:  “Demonstration of Non-Corrosive, Capacitance-Based Water-Treatment Technology for Chilled Water Cooling Systems” Report Number: ERDC/CERL TR14-15

Related Papers:
Cooling Tower Institute (CTI) Green Technologies 2012

“Demonstration of Electronic Capacitor-Based Water Treatment System for Application at Military Installations” Report Number: ERDC/CERL TR 09–20

USACE Demonstration of Noncorrosive, Capacitance-Based Water Treatment Technology for Chilled Water Cooling Systems

Link to USACE ERDC ReportTechnical Papers
September 2014
Demonstration of Noncorrosive, Capacitance-Based Water-Treatment Technology for Chilled-Water Cooling Systems : ERDC/CERL TR-14–15

20% reduc­tions in cool­ing tow­er make-up water and 50% reduc­tion in blow-down were achieved at four U.S. Military Bases over a 24 month study peri­od.

Cooling water conservation: What does 5.8 million gallons of water look like?

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Drawing showing 1 million gallons as a cube 51.1 feet on each side

source: USGS

TVA Cooling Water Conservation Project: Zeta Rod Case Study

Imagine a swim­ming pool, rough­ly the size of a foot­ball field, five sto­ries deep.  This is the vol­ume of water (5.8 mil­lion gal­lons of water to be exact) that one U.S. Government Data Facility in the Southeastern United States has saved in one year by employ­ing Zeta Rod® Water Management sys­tems tech­nol­o­gy for its open loop water treat­ment and cool­ing water con­ser­va­tion pro­gram.  Most peo­ple are amazed to learn that a cool­ing tow­er sys­tem requires so much water to oper­ate and that cool­ing water use gen­er­al­ly eclipses all oth­er facil­i­ty water require­ments.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) includ­ed a Zeta Rod Water Management sys­tem as part of an Energy Project for one of its major clients in the Southeastern United States. Results doc­u­ment­ed a 22% decrease in make up water, 65% decrease in waste­water, elim­i­na­tion of chem­i­cals and an annu­al water sav­ings of 5.8 mil­lion gal­lons.

Click here: TVA Cooling Water Conservation Project

 

Case Study: TVA Cooling Water Conservation Project

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) LogoZeta Library Collections: Case Studies
July 2013
TVA Cooling Water Conservation Project

Abstract:  Zeta Rod® Water Management Systems were select­ed to be uti­lized as the water treat­ment sys­tem of choice for the recir­cu­lat­ing open-loop chillers, heat exchang­ers and cool­ing tow­ers for the two HVAC Central Plants at a U.S. Government Data Facility in the Southeastern United States. The pur­pose of the sys­tem was to deliv­er sig­nif­i­cant water con­ser­va­tion while pro­tect­ing crit­i­cal cool­ing equip­ment in a man­ner con­sis­tent with a well man­aged tra­di­tion­al chem­i­cal water treat­ment pro­gram. The Zeta Rod sys­tem was includ­ed as part of an Energy & Water Conservation Project imple­ment­ed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

  • 22% less make up water used
  • 65% less waste water sent to the sew­er
  • 5.8 Million gal­lons of water saved dur­ing the first year

Click here for full Case Study: TVA Cooling Water Conservation Project 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Issues Directive & Guidance on Non-Chemical Treatment of Cooling Tower Water

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Link to USACE ERDC Site

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Engineering and Construction Bulletin

Subject: Non-Chemical Treatment of Cooling Tower Water
Applicability: Directive and Guidance

Non-chem­i­cal treat­ment of cool­ing tow­er water has been found to be a viable option for many projects. Significant water and cost sav­ings can be real­ized depend­ing on the projects cool­ing sys­tems size, amount of year­ly oper­at­ing time for the sys­tem and con­di­tion of the make-up water. There are var­i­ous types of non-chem­i­cal treat­ment such as: hydro­dy­nam­ic cav­i­ta­tion, pulsed and sta­t­ic elec­tric field, ultra-son­ic, and mag­net­ic. CERL has per­formed a study on Zeta Rod Water Management Systems, a  type of non-chem­i­cal treat­ment (High Voltage Capacitance Based – HVCB) used on the cool­ing sys­tems at four U.S mil­i­tary bases. The bases select­ed had a wide range of make-up water use and cli­mat­ic con­di­tions. This sys­tem oper­at­ed by installing insu­lat­ed high volt­age elec­trodes into the cool­ing tow­er pip­ing cre­at­ing a strong elec­tro­sta­t­ic field in the water stream.

Click here to view the USACE Bulletin

U.S. Government Releases Zeta Rod Cooling Water Conservation Study

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Link to USACE ERDC SiteThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Lab has pub­lished find­ings of a two-year Demonstration Validation Study that suc­cess­ful­ly com­pared Zeta Rod® Water Management Systems in side-by-side cool­ing tow­er instal­la­tions against stan­dard chem­i­cal water treat­ment pro­grams.

The study, enti­tled “Demonstration of Electronic Capacitor-Based Water Treatment System for Application at Military Installations” presents the data and results of the study.

Abstract: The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has a spe­cif­ic leg­isla­tive man­date to increase its con­ser­va­tion of water and ener­gy. It also is inter­est­ed in improv­ing the effec­tive­ness of open-loop, cool­ing water treat­ment process­es at its instal­la­tions world­wide, for pur­pos­es of extend­ing the use­ful life of evap­o­ra­tive cool­ing equip­ment and reduc­ing ener­gy use/costs. A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) was approved to demon­strate that, with­out using chem­i­cal addi­tives, a capac­i­tor-based water treat­ment sys­tem is capa­ble of (1) pro­vid­ing equiv­a­lent pro­tec­tion to a chem­i­cal treat­ment pro­gram in pre­vent­ing scale, cor­ro­sion, and bio-foul­ing; (2) allow­ing cool­ing sys­tems to be oper­at­ed in an enhanced water con­ser­va­tion mode; (3) deliv­er­ing mea­sur­able reduc­tions in water usage over con­ven­tion­al meth­ods; and (4) pro­vid­ing con­trol, mon­i­tor­ing, and wire­less data trans­fer via the Internet. Results doc­u­ment­ed in the sub­se­quent demon­stra­tion and eval­u­a­tion project showed the tech­nol­o­gy was able to meet every objec­tive and also was able to deliv­er a 20% reduc­tion in cool­ing water use over stan­dard chem­i­cal treat­ment meth­ods. Application of this tech­nol­o­gy would allow the DoD to (1) reduce chem­i­cal usage, expo­sure, and dis­pos­al expens­es; (2) con­serve water and ener­gy; (3) facil­i­tate water re-use; and (4) meet new goals for con­ser­va­tion of resources.

To read more, click here to link to the Army Corps of Engineers pub­lished study

Zeta Rod Reverse Osmosis 簡報檔-英文: Foxconn Group, Shenzhen China

Zeta Rods installed in Reverse Osmosis (RO) system | Foxconn Group, Shenzhen, ChinaZeta Library Collections: Case Studies

September 2007
Zeta Rod Reverse Osmosis 簡報檔-英文: Foxconn Group, Shenzhen China
Frigaid Corporation Ltd. — Zeta Rod Distributor for Asia www.zetarod.com.tw

Zeta Rods installed into a Foxconn Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant in Shenzhen China increas­es per­me­ate rate from 66.6% to 76.4%,  reduces waste­water by 15% and pre­vents foul­ing of RO mem­branes allow­ing for ener­gy sav­ings and increased pro­duc­tiv­i­ty.

click here to link to the Foxconn case study

Zeta Rod 簡報檔-英文 Formosa Plastics | Nan-Ya Jing Hsin Co-Gen Power Plant

Formosa Plastics | Nan-Ya Jing-Hsin Power PlantZeta Library Collections: Case Studies

September 2007
Zeta Rod 簡報檔-英文 Formosa Plastics | Nan-Ya Jing Hsin Co-Gen Power Plant
Frigad Corporation Limited — Zeta Rod Taiwan Distributor www.zetarod.com.tw

The 10,000 RT cool­ing tow­er at Formosa Plastics Group, Nan-Ya Plastics Jing-Hsin Power Plant in Taiwan uses Zeta Rod sys­tems for foul­ing pre­ven­tion, water con­ser­va­tion, chem­i­cal reduc­tion and enhanced work­er health & safe­ty.

click here to link to the Nan-Ya Co-Gen Plant case study

簡報檔-英文: Zeta Rods treat 6000RT cooling tower at Formosa Plastics Nan-Ya Chia-Yi Plant

Zeta rods installed into 6000RT cooling tower at Nan-Ya Plastics, TaiwanZeta Library Collections: Case Studies

September 2005
Formosa Plastics | Nan-Ya Chia-Yi Plant | Zeta Rod Case Study 簡報檔-英文

Frigaid Corporation Limited, Zeta Rod Asia Distributor www.zetarod.com.tw

Zeta Rod sys­tems suc­cess­ful­ly pro­vide water con­ser­va­tion, chem­i­cal elim­i­na­tions and reduc­tions, bio­foul­ing & scale pre­ven­tion in this PVC plant.

click here to link to the Formosa Group, Nan-Ya Plastics Case Study