Services for Water Treatment

Delval has the technical and mechanical expertise to provide a wide range of Water Treatment services aimed at improving your system operation; conserving water and fuel thus reducing your carbon footprint and your operating costs. We have 50+ years’ experience at servicing all peripheral equipment associated with boiler systems including softeners, dealkalizers, reverse osmosis units and blowdown controllers.

Softeners

When troubleshooting a softener, our objective is to re-establish the performance of the softener to desired levels of performance (0-1ppm of hardness). To do so, Delval takes the following steps to successfully address softener malfunctions.

Test source water for hardness
Determine resin bed size and regeneration volume or frequency required
Confirm regeneration settings are optimal i.e. backwash, brining & rinse
Ensure brine solution is being replenished properly

System Contamination

Both boilers and cooling tower systems can be contaminated. Taking a two-step approach to investigate and resolve an issue with a contaminated system in that there are two (2) possible sources for boiler and cooling tower systems:

Change in make-up
- Quality of make-up changed
- Pre-treatment equipment failed
Intrusion

- Boilers systems vulnerable to leaks from condensate return system
- Cooling tower systems (Process heat exchanger leaks, Airborne contaminants)

We analyze the make-up to determine whether a quality change has occurred and pinpoint the cause to prescribe remedies.

If the city or well water coming from outside has changed, the treatment program is adjusted to compensate for the change without sacrificing performance.
If the change in makeup is due to failing pre-treatment equipment such as softeners or deaerators, the pre-treatment equipment is repaired or replaced.

Delval analyzes the bulk water in the system to determine if an intrusion has caused the contamination and move to identify the source to prescribe remedies.

If the contamination in the boiler system is coming from the condensate, a point source analysis is done to pinpoint the exact source of contamination. Short term, the contaminated condensate diverted to drain. Long term, the contaminated condensate is modified or treated for return to the boiler.
If the contamination in the cooling tower is coming from leaks in heat exchange equipment, a point source analysis is done to pinpoint the exact source of contamination. The leak is secured thus eliminating the contamination source.
If the contamination in the cooling tower is coming from airborne contaminants, an online chemical cleaning and/or disinfection procedure is prescribed to remove the contaminant.

Water Re-Use (Zero Discharge)

Environmental restrictions are causing more and more sites to eliminate, reduce, or modify the characteristics of the water discharged. There are three (3) viable routes to consider when a site is facing this environmental mandate:

Pre-treat on-site the water prior to disposal
Outsource disposal of the water
Re-use the water in process or utilities

With an emphasis on the environmental mandate and a focus on return on investment, Delval can provide a plan for a given site to reduce or eliminate the discharged industrial process and utility wasted water by reusing the discharged water in the plant process or utilities. We will engineer the system, design the process, and specify the equipment thus defining the capital required as well as the operating costs.

Legionellosis: Risk Assessment Building Water Systems (ASHRAE Standard 188)

Many municipalities and state governments have begun random audits or passed ordinances requiring a Legionella Risk Study.

We have conducted several Risk Assessments generating Water Management Plans that are now being implemented. The objective is to put building water systems in compliance with best practices as defined by ASHRAE Standard 188 and supported by the CDC, OSHA, and Federal Department of Health & Human Services. The standard and supporting regulations deal directly with control measures required that minimize the presence and transmission of Legionella in your building water systems.

To provide an extremely thorough and professional Risk Assessment, we were driven to:

Employ software recognized by the industry
Partner with an accredited world renown microbiological laboratory for validation

The result is a credible and defensible Risk Assessment Water Management Plan.

Corrosion Studies

Delval can provide the equipment and laboratory support to conduct on-going corrosion studies at your site for any water system.

There are two (2) alternatives when conducting a corrosion study:

Using sacrificial coupons matching system metallurgy with results every 90 days
Inserting probes matching system metallurgy providing real-time corrosion rates

Either approach requires a bypass loop with constant flow.

Sampling & Field Testing

Laboratory analyses on both water and deposit samples will pinpoint problems or validate performance. There are several reasons a laboratory analysis is beneficial:

Validate treatment program’s performance
Pinpoint the source of contamination in a system including microbiological
Confirm the quality of the make-up water

Closed Loop Volume

We determine the volume contained in a closed-loop system with or without a Delval water treatment program. Many times the volume contained is valuable information for both treatment, start-up, shutdown, cleaning, and disinfection.

Evaporation Credits

We can assist in applying for evaporation credits which will reduce a site’s sewer costs by the amount of water being evaporated in a cooling tower system or consumed in any other process. We have successfully negotiated 40% reduction in sewer charges for our customers with the municipalities involved. A site’s sewer bill is tied to the amount of water consumed by the site. The sewer bill does not automatically credit the site for water consumed but not sent to sewers such as water evaporated in a cooling tower system.

New Water & Energy Conservation Technologies

Delval continuously seeks new technologies that will result in a reduction of water or energy consumption by industry and commercial buildings, thus, bringing these technologies to our customers.