MechChem Africa March-April 2021

⎪ Pump systems, pipes, valves and seals ⎪

Intelligent water treatment solution cuts bacteria growth

Pump solutions leader Grundfos offers industry intelligent systems for minimising the risks associated with biological contamination in water treatment systems, which can lead to Legionnaire’s disease. Dean Naidoo, lead key account manager for OEM Industries at Grundfos South Africa, explains.

grow in the water and are easily dispersed with this drift. “Water conditioning in these systems is therefore important for health and safety purposes,” says Naidoo. “This maintains safe water quality and supports the overall ef- ficiency of the system.” However, such water treatment requires extremely accurate dosing of chemical addi- tives. When carried out manually, chemical preparation and dosing are fraught with human error. Overdosing, for instance, can lead to safety risks and higher than necessary chemical costs. Theconcentrationof salt inacooling tower system is another potential challenge. It can lead to fouling and the build-up of concen- trated solids in the formof scaling. This causes corrosion, blockages and reduced efficiency. When the concentration reaches a certain level, solids must be released in a process called ‘blowdown’ and new water added to retain water balance. Once again, manual operation can lead to costly results as too much blowdown uses excessive amounts of water while too little blowdown might dam-

age the cooling tower equipment. “Human error can also expose a company to the risk of non-compliance, as chemical use is often subject to environmental regulations,” says Naidoo. “Complicated tracking and reporting procedures can make compliance difficult when companies rely on manual systems.” The solution from Grundfos is an intel- ligent disinfection solution, facilitating easy and efficient reduction of health risks in industrial water treatment. The solution combines several compo- nents including intelligent digital dosing pumps such as the Grundfos SMART digital dosing advanced (DDA) range, a measuring and control device, a dosing instrumenta- tion digital (DID) System and a cloud-based remote monitoring system that connects the components. “The Grundfos measuring and control device can measure the conductivity in the cooling water, which can trigger a response when a critical dissolved solids content level is reached,” he says. “The system can then react automatically to blowdown, keeping water quality within optimal parameters and maintaining water balance – all without any manual intervention by an employee.” The Grundfos device will also ensure that the chemical dosing pump releases the exact amount of biocide required to keep the bac- teria growth under control, thereby avoiding overdosing or under-dosing. Programmed with an integrated intelligent algorithm, the Grundfos SMART DDA pump will prevent discrepancies in the system, triggering an alarm if any issues occur. “To enhance this system’s ease of use, all the operational parameters are consolidated in the Grundfos chemical management app,” he says. “All relevant parameters are stored in the cloud and the app can then produce compliance reports on request.” “The result is a fully connected solution; the measuring and control device, the digital dosingpump, theremotemanagement system and the chemical management app all work together to deliver safer, more cost-efficient water conditioning and blowdown control,” Naidoo concludes. www.grundfos.com

A lack of prevention measures and self-monitoring in cooling towers and hot water systems is one of themain reasons for the increased risk of biological contamination which, if left uncontrolled, can cause the deadly Legion- naire’s disease. Explaining the problem, Grundfos’ Dean Naidoo says that cooling towers dissipate unwanted heat into the atmosphere through water evaporation. Water is sprayed into the cooling tower through spray nozzles and tiny airborne droplets are formed. While falling through the tower, some of the water evaporates but somedroplets, known as drift, are carried out of the tower by the air stream produced by the fans. Legionella bacteria can

A Grundfos SMART digital dosing advanced pump installation with a DID (Dosing Instrumentation Digital) system.

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