What are you willing to risk?
Key considerations when designing a water purification system
BY ROD McNELLY
Proper planning is the key to any successful project, especially when it comes to designing a water purification system. Let’s say you’re a plumbing engineer for a major manufacturer that relies on purified water for part of its assembly process. What would happen if that water treatment system was to fail? Are you willing to shut down a $35,000 per hour paint line in a production facility because your water treatment system isn’t working properly? Would the entire plant be at risk for shutting down? What kind of service is your water treatment provider willing to commit to? The implications of ceasing production might cost the plant hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime and delayed orders.
What would you be willing to risk? Plumbing engineers, designers, specifiers and contractors involved in the development of industrial water treatment systems understand that there’s no room for costly error or miscalculations when designing large scale, high purity water systems for industrial manufacturing applications. They know the value of not only innovative plumbing design, but of effective materials and energy use — and how these elements can contribute to further cost savings and minimized downtime. They also recognize the value of partnering with a company that understands the essential components of the early planning and discovery phase to execute the plan in the most efficient way.
For professionals involved in the design and engineering of plumbing systems, this early planning and discovery phase is the most critical time in the process, because the beginning stages will lay the framework for the entire project. Important considerations will be made to determine the quality and quantity of water needed before recommending a reliable system to fit the unique requirements of the application. The right partner should guide you through the necessary steps to design the best water treatment solution — one that is custom-tailored to fit the exacting specifications of your business — and eliminates any guesswork or surprises downstream
The ideal partner should have a water system discovery tool with a systematic set of guidelines. Better water
considerations result in better business, and a better environment. Teaming with a company or consultant who has a proven, comprehensive tool in place will ensure that you are in line with every requirement in the early planning stages to achieve your company’s desired goals for a water purification solution.
The advantages of a systematic approach
There are several advantages to finding a partner who has proven expertise and a successful discovery tool process in place. From experience, I have seen industrial clients that followed a comprehensive water system discovery tool yield higher margins for their business. That’s because their plumbing engineers incorporated the process into a sustainable business model for their entire company.
When you and your partner utilize a good systematic discovery tool, you are able to be directly involved with the project every step of the way, from inception to completion. You will be able to create a conceptual model for how a water treatment system will work early on in the process. For example, your organization might require a reverse osmosis (RO) system that pumps 100 gallons per minute, five days a week, not consuming more than a certain amount of water, and not rejecting water back greater than 25 percent with less than 10 parts per billion silica and less than 5 parts per billion total organic carbon in the product water. Asking the right questions — and uncovering the right criteria — through the water system discovery tool will guide you to achieve the optimal outcome.
By gathering the right data points upfront, you’ll be in the best position to design a water purification system that allows for the flexibility and performance that you seek today, and for many years down the line. This is a serious cost benefit to you – not to mention the countless hours you will save because you built in the right level of scalability at the beginning to accommodate future expansion.
How flexible will you be?
Today’s companies and individuals desire products and processes that are custom designed for their unique needs. Likewise, to succeed in the industrial marketplace, plumbing engineers and contractors also need to create highly customized water treatment systems that suit the exact requirements of their business.
Let’s say you’re a plumbing engineer for an international oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Your operation utilizes a proprietary heavy oil recovery process that’s comprised of in-situ combustion technology for the recovery of bitumen and heavy oil. The company needs ultra-soft water for its oil field steam generators that are part of this process. Your water treatment approach requires a four tank duplex alternate softener system that produces 50 GPM used to provide ultra-soft water to the steam generators, as well as pre-filters to reduce sediments in the raw water supply.
As you can see, this is no ordinary off-the-shelf system. You need to ensure that your ultra-soft system is designed to match the exact water quality specifications that this patented oil recovery process require. Without ensuring continuous ultra-soft water to the steam generators, the process will fail. The competitive and monetary consequences of failure cannot be underestimated, nor can the importance of your role in designing a flexible water treatment system that can avert a potential malfunction.
What are some of the features of a water discovery system tool that allow for this increased level of flexibility? First, it is important to look at the design criteria data. An ideal partner will be able to help you gather and evaluate data on these requirements and generate a detailed usage profile. From there, each aspect of the system should allow freedom to customize anything such as materials for construction or selection of specific components. Your partner should also be able to offer cost effective default standards.
Next, it is important to look at the process preferences. A variety of methods to achieve the same results are well known in the water treatment industry, but your partner can potentially offer more affordable or efficient alternatives.
If you are using the correct discovery system process tool, a rapid response approach should be inherent. A good tool will allow you to make quick design changes or alterations throughout the fabrication process without affecting the delivery date. The ability to be flexible and nimble to meet the evolving needs of your water treatment project is essential. Many of today’s industrial RO systems, for example, are specially engineered. They are built on a modular platform that is readily expandable and can be built much faster — often with an eight-week turnaround — compared to the industry average of 18 weeks.
Remember that several combinations of these features can be utilized to create a comprehensive, customized water system based the need for the output water. A one sized solution does not fit all. Your integrated solution should be designed to eliminate costly water problems, enhance the performance of current equipment and improve the efficiency of your operation — now and in the future.
What to look for when creating a quality design checklist
To uncover the initial design criteria, plumbing engineers and their partners will use the water system discovery tool to create a quality design checklist. This checklist encompasses many key criteria required to design the right water purification or treatment system.
For example, you and your partner must carefully evaluate the unique needs of your company’s specific industry and/or market before beginning the project. The water treatment requirements of oil and gas companies are very different than those of pharmaceutical manufacturers. Even the type of facility and the specific application will dictate the system design. Do you need process water? Capture and re-use? Waste water treatment? The quality design checklist will prompt you through these and many other questions.
Another area for evaluation is your feed water source and usage. Was there any previous treatment to the feed water source such as chlorine injection or softening? Determine the usage requirements and for a detailed list of concerns. The more granular your questions, the better. For an industrial manufacturing company, a plumbing engineer will probably want to know such things as:
• How much water will be used in an eight-hour shift?
• How many shifts per day?
• How many days per week?
• If there were to be an interruption in make-up water (city feed issue or pre-treatment service) how much reserve water for production is desired?
From there, determine what the desired final product water specifications will be. There may be additional purity requirements to consider. Each project will be different. Several considerations — such conductivity or resistivity, total organic carbon, bacteria specification and endotoxin specification — should be addressed.
Finally, costs must always be factored into the equation. Determine your capital versus operating costs. Some companies will be more concerned with one over the other, and your partner should be able to help guide you. In addition, look at utility costs such as power at your facility. City feed water, wastewater disposal and other expenses are also wise to take into account when budgeting and designing a high purity water system.
The final phase of the discovery methodology
The last part of the early planning stage involves the discovery methodology or phases facilitated by the water system tool. The P&ID and System Selection will determine pretreatment, reverse osmosis, make-up polish, storage tank and accessories, and distribution and final polish.
For each of these selections, the following should be evaluated:
• cost effective defaults
• alternate material options
• alternate treatment technologies or options
• component options and brand
• equipment configurations
From there, work with your partner to determine a controls package. Control packages may range from simple lights and switches designed to permit safe operation of the equipment or more complex packages that utilize Programmable Logic Controllers, Human Machine Interface, data acquisition or remote communication. All of the control packages can be designed to suit your company’s specific needs.
Service when you need it most
Another important, yet sometimes overlooked, part of the discovery process is taking an honest assessment of what your partner can offer before you engage together on a project.
It is important to choose a partner who is solutions-oriented rather than just product-oriented. When it comes to designing industrial water treatment systems, the value is in taking multiple products and technologies and combining them into a system that provides the right solution for your environment. It is not necessarily looking at the individual components, but how that whole solution operates and fits best with your water source and long-term requirements.
Your partner should also be able to help you anticipate — and address — your service requirements for the project. For example, what is the monetary risk of having to shut down production because your facility cannot discharge, there is no proper redundancy or temporary trailers are not available at a power plant? When the associated costs could potentially exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour, the ability to provide prompt service becomes critical.
Look for a partner that has a solid reputation for meeting service requirements on deadline and can provide long-term service throughout the lifecycle of your equipment. Alongside servicing your system in a timely fashion, you should also determine if the selected partner has a well stocked inventory. Many vendors may guarantee immediate service, but if a part is not in stock then there will be a delay in the service. Also, in the unlikely event of potential property or equipment damage should a system component fail, what is the vendor’s policy? What about provisions for leak detection?
Another important factor to consider is the assembly. Find out if your partner will provide assembly on-site. Many vendors provide a technician to come and install the solution. As mentioned previously, today’s industry trend is customization. A key differentiator between you and your competitors is speed to market. Therefore, seek a partner that guarantees quick delivery and efficient installation of your industrial high purity water system.
Finally, it’s important to find a partner that has financial viability, because some of the projects you will be involved in will be quite large in nature. You need to determine if your partner will still be in business two years down the road to provide parts and service. You should also consider your company’s location needs. Some organizations may need international service, which may require you to find a global partner with facilities around the world.
In the end, a partner that has a good water discovery tool will be able to help you not only conceptualize and design the right water treatment upfront, but meet your needs throughout the process and even after installation. Flexibility, performance and service are critical in today’s economically challenged and fast-paced industrial manufacturing environment. Plumbing engineers and professionals will benefit by teaming with a strategic advisor with the expertise and proven formula for a process that takes into consideration criteria, costs and collaboration.
Rod McNelly, vice president, North America Industrial Sales for Culligan International, is responsible for leading and growing the company’s industrial business which consists of large scale customized, engineered water treatment solutions. McNelly can be reached at: rod.mcnelly@culligan.com.