WATER & WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
more quickly. Better still, an automated process that is capable of sampling multiple lines consistently and providing alarm signals as soon as a membrane breach is detected can be used.
BREWERY IMPROVEMENTS Bürkert has developed a specialist permeate monitoring system for just this purpose. Te advantages are best explained by examining a real-world example.
A beer and cider manufacturer that
relies on boreholes for its source of process water was using a conventional RO system with 45m3 of water required per hour. Most RO systems will have a conductivity sensor on the common outlet, but these can struggle to detect small impurities that may arise from damage to a single membrane. With only a very limited storage
Sampling and testing of water is crucial to achieving a consistently high-quality water supply for manufacturing processes
capacity, the volume of production water from the RO system needed to keep up with the manufacturing processes. Tis meant that downtime had to be kept to an absolute minimum. Te brewery had found that certain membranes could foul up quicker than others. Conductivity levels could be seen to slowly increase as one filter became blocked and this was quickly followed by several others causing the conductivity level to increase rapidly.
of the membranes as well as conductivity measurements being taken on the ‘pure’ water side. Te difference between inlet and
outlet pressures will change as the filter becomes blocked with impurities. System alarms can be configured to alert maintenance staff that the filter needs to be cleaned. Water that has passed through the RO system, known as the permeate, should have a very low conductivity reading and this can be checked by manually removing samples and testing them in the on-site lab. However, depending on the number of samples being taken each day, this can be a time-consuming exercise. Regular sampling and testing will clearly deliver a more accurate picture of the water quality and pick up an anomaly
As soon as several filters became blocked, the RO system had to be stopped and repaired as quickly as possible. If this could be achieved while the buffer of stored water is used, then no production capacity was lost. However, if the repair was likely to take more than a few hours, the company needed to hire in a mobile RO system to enable production to continue.
IMPROVED MONITORING Mobile RO systems can cost tens of thousands of pounds per week to hire, as well as the additional costs of lost production while the backup system is connected. Te brewery approached Bürkert looking for an improvement to its existing system and to find out more information about how they could improve the monitoring of water quality. Te brewery wanted to measure the conductivity of the water from each filter to determine when it either became blocked or started to leach impurities. Tis would allow the maintenance team
to remove the filter from the system without impacting the production process. Bürkert’s permeate monitoring solution connects to each pressure pipe, regularly samples water from each membrane and tests it for conductivity. Tis enables a central display to provide the current status of each membrane, with information also available to remote monitoring points if necessary.
REDUCED COSTS
Te automation of the sampling and testing processes offers several advantages. Tests can be performed more frequently without increasing the workload of the staff. Tis also improves the consistency of results, which can be variable when conducted manually and by different personnel. Data is also recorded by the automated system, which applies trend analysis, allowing maintenance activities to be planned ahead and reducing any downtime even further. In addition to the improved reliability, the time saved in automating the sampling and testing process reduces the payback period; for a typical 40 pressure pipe system, this can be equated to a saving of 108 hours per year, that can be better spent elsewhere in the plant. Te brewery has decided that, with
increasing levels of impurities in the borehole water, the flexible, automated monitoring solution from Bürkert will deliver a range of benefits including increased productivity and process reliability. Designed for easy integration to existing control frameworks, the on- board PLC and software with a choice of communication protocols, the Bürkert permeate monitoring system can be easily connected to onsite SCADA and process control devices. Irrespective of the application, RO systems need to be regularly monitored to ensure water quality standards are maintained and to identify potential issues at the earliest opportunity. In this way, running costs can be kept to a minimum and product quality can be assured.
Greg Wainhouse is with Bürkert.
www.burkert.co.uk
www.engineerlive.com 37
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