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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.

Frequently Asked Questions: Zeta Rod Home Water Conditioning Systems

Link to Water Conditioning for Home, Pool & Garden

Zeta Library Collections: FAQ’s

What is a Zeta Rod® System for Home Water Conditioning, and is it afford­able? The Zeta Rod® green tech­nol­o­gy offers a high­ly eco­nom­i­cal and envi­ron­men­tal­ly sound method of water con­di­tion­ing that uses the phys­i­cal and elec­tro­chem­i­cal effects of elec­tro­sta­t­ic fields to dis­perse bac­te­ria and nano-crys­tals that form biofilm and scale. A Zeta Rod sys­tem will nor­mal­ly pay for itself in chem­i­cal sav­ings (salts), water con­ser­va­tion (no back-flush­ing) and main­te­nance over a peri­od of months rather than years.
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Evaporative “Swamp” Coolers Benefit from Zeta Rod Systems

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Diagram of Evaporative Coolers Treated with Zeta Rod Systems

Are you inter­est­ed in pro­tect­ing and reduc­ing main­te­nance on evap­o­ra­tive cool­ing equip­ment, sig­nif­i­cant­ly extend­ing the life of cool­er pads and CELdek® media, con­serv­ing water, and elim­i­nat­ing odor and scale buildup?   Zeta Rod® elec­tron­ic capac­i­tor-based water treat­ment sys­tems deliv­er these ben­e­fits and more with a sim­ple  instal­la­tion into the main water line feed­ing one or more evap­o­ra­tive cool­ers. Continue read­ing →

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

Biofouling Control in Heat Exchangers Using High Voltage Capacitance-Based Technology

Image of Tomar, Portugal

Zeta Library Collections: Technical Papers
July 2007

R. Romo, M. M Pitts and N. B. Handagama. “Biofouling Control in Heat Exchangers Using High Voltage Capacitance Based Technology” ECI Symposium Series, Volume RP5: Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Heat Exchanger Fouling and Cleaning — Engineering Conferences International, Tomar, Portugal, July 1 — 6, 2007

Abstract:
…Four dif­fer­ent appli­ca­tion case stud­ies are pre­sent­ed in this paper in which High Voltage Capacitance Based (HVCB) tech­nol­o­gy was used to con­trol bio­foul­ing. The appli­ca­tions include an evap­o­ra­tive cool­ing wall in a green­house in Oracle, Arizona; a cool­ing tower–condenser appli­ca­tion in Phoenix, Arizona (study per­formed by Arizona State University under a U.S. Department of Energy grant); a cool­ing tow­er sys­tem using reclaimed indus­tri­al waste water at a wafer facil­i­ty in Camas, WA; and a pip­ing sys­tem for a major util­i­ty plant (Tennessee Valley Authority – TVA) using riv­er water.

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Zeta Rod systems remove biofilms that shield legionella

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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 →

Biosphere 2: Biofouling and Scale Prevention in CELdek® Wet Wall Evaporative Cooling

diagram of CELdek media functionZeta Library Collections: Case Studies
March 1999
Biosphere 2: Prevention of Biofouling and Scale in CELdek Wet Wall
Bioshere 2 expe­ri­ences dra­mat­ic improve­ment in the clean­li­ness of wet wall CELdek® media with use of Zeta Rod sys­tems. Expected media replace­ment was unnec­ces­sary and the cli­mate wall can oper­ate at peak effi­cien­cy.

Click here to link to the Biosphere 2 Wet Wall Case Study