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

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.

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

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

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 systems remove biofilms that shield legionella

Zeta NewsTucson, Arizona:  Zeta Corporation has estab­lished that its patent­ed Zeta Rod® tech­nol­o­gy is anoth­er weapon in the bat­tle against legionel­la. Zeta Rod sys­tems will remove and pre­vent recur­rence of biofilm and asso­ci­at­ed scale that shel­ters legionel­la bac­te­ria inside potable water sys­tems and in cool­ing tow­ers. Continue read­ing