Author: Surjeet Kumar

COVID-19 and Managing Industrial Utility Systems: From a Water Treatment Perspective

COVID-19 has led to partial to complete lockdown in many countries. This has resulted in reduced
consumption of goods and plants had to either turndown their production or stop their plants.

In the time when resources in plant are less, sometimes utility systems get ignored. Having said that it is
very important to ensure that proper focus is paid on utility systems if it there are operational changes or
are stopped.

Below is a brief about best practices to be followed:

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems:

Generally, RO systems run continuously between CIP’s with continuous antiscalant dosing and in some
cases continuous/ intermittent biological control product.

Preservation is needed for RO membranes to prevent biological growth on membrane surfaces.

- Standard CIP procedures should be used to clean the system. In SWRO system it is also
recommended to flush system with permeate water to remove residual sea water from system.

- Preservation can be done using sodium bisulfite or non-oxidizing biocide. SMBS solution may require
periodical replacement for effective preservation.

Cooling Water System:

Generally cooling tower is treated with corrosion & scale inhibitor and biocides to protect it from
corrosion and deposition. Special actions are required in cases where cooling water flow to exchangers is
reduced due to operational requirement or it is stopped.

- If velocity is reduced in system or heat exchanger due to operation requirement then it may increase
demand for dispersant which can be added to compete system or to inlet of particular exchanger by
satellite dosing system. Increase corrosion inhibitor as well.
- If cooling water network is stopped then it is recommended to increase dosing of corrosion inhibitor
and should be treated at high concentration of oxidizing and non-oxidizing biocides before stoppage.
It is recommended to flush dead ends after biocide dosage.
- For longer duration stoppage it is recommended to drain water from cooling water circuit to
maximum possible.
- Usage of film forming amines for 7 – 10 days before stopping cooling tower provides much better
protection of system in filled or drained conditions.

Closed Cooling System:

Closed cooling systems are treated with Molybdate/ Nitrite based corrosion inhibitor or Film Forming
Amines.
- Molybdate doesn’t provide protection in absence of oxygen and nitrite is an easy food for bacteria
which can convert it to nitrate and make unusable during stoppage. Usage of these product requires
circulating water at some frequency and addition of biocides at regular interval.
- For longer duration stoppage it is recommended to drain water from cooling water circuit to
maximum possible.

- Treatment based on Film Forming Amines (FFA) is a much better way to protect when system will
remain in filled condition for weeks or months. Systems which are not treated in normal condition by
FFA should start using FFA 7 – 10 days before stopping water circulation.

Boiler Water System:

Boiler systems are usually treated with Ammonia/ Neutralizing Amine (NA), Oxygen Scavenger,
Phosphate based products or Film Forming Amines (FFA). Due to reduce steam demand it may be
required to stop some boilers which will need wet layup to avoid corrosion.

- By using high concentration of oxygen scavenger and Ammonia/ NA amine to maintain high pH,
boilers can be preserved well. This requires regular monitoring of pH and Oxygen Scavenger residual.

- FFA are a better option for wet layup as it doesn’t allow corrosive medium to come in contact with
metal surface. It has been observed that FFA provides faster startup of boiler then boiler boilers
preserved using Ammonia/NA and oxygen scavenger.

Wastewater Treatment:

Wastewater systems with biological treatment requires special attention to avoid losing active bacterial
mass from system. Generally, wastewater with organics act as food for microbes. Depending on influent
additionally urea and phosphoric acid is added to maintain C:N:P ratio.

- Systems are put in recycle mode to avoid losing biological mass. Acetic Acid can be used to provide
food for bacteria during stoppage to maintain F/M ratio and Urea and Phosphoric acid should be
used to maintain C:N:P ratio if required.

- DO and pH should be maintained as per guidelines.

- Any influent with high biocide residual should not be added to the wastewater treatment plant.

Every water system is different and preservation program needs to be prepared based on local plant
conditions. Always include your water treatment service provider in planning meetings to prepare for
these situations in advance.

Stay Safe !!!