Industrial Water Softener Installed-Before and After Photos

A Delaware cosmetic derivatives manufacturer installed a dual tank industrial water softener to replace their 25 year old zeolite softeners. The transformation of the building and installation of our water softeners by the mechanical contractor was exceptional!

BEFORE - Existing Softeners During Tearout

AFTER - New Dual Res-Kem Softeners Installed After Building Refurbishment

Water treatment application:	Replacing 25 year old zeolite softeners
Savings and/or ROI the customer wants to achieve	Clean up the zeolite operations and the room where they reside. Automate the regeneration process and the monitoring of the water softeners
Operating conditions:	60-120 gpm boiler make-up
System configuration:	Singe or Dual Parallel operation PLC controlled
Materials of construction:	Since the source water being well water and the room ambient air temperature can be very hot > 95 F, condensation that can form on the tanks, therefore fiberglass tanks were used. Schedule 80 CPVC was used to provide more strength to the system piping Valves were Bray butterfly valves all stainless wetted parts
Threaded or welded:	Glued, Schedule 80 CPVC and flanged unit piping
Type of valves and actuators:	All Bray valve Lug style, 150 ANSI flanges.  Solenoid were mounted directly on each valve to save wiring costs back to panels
Control philosophy:	The plant standardized their automation based upon Rockwell automation, so we provided the regeneration sequence and the necessary P&ID so their in-house PLC programmer.   His panel shop could outfit a local panel and Ethernet connection back to the main powerhouse control room.

Condensate Polisher Shipped to Canada

Recently, we shipped a sodium cycle condensate polisher to Ontario, Canada for a combined cycle power plant.  The system was constructed entirely of 304 stainless steel.

Sodium Cycle Condensate Polisher for Ontario Power Plant

The features of this system include:

Company	Combined Cycle Power plant
Water Treatment Application	Condensate Polisher to scavenge trace hardness and iron from returning condensate
Savings and/or ROI	Loss Prevention keeping heat transfer surfaces clean and reliable for years of trouble free operation
Operating Conditions	Return Condensate flow rate is between 30-90 gpm
System Configuration	24” diameter Simplex
Materials Of Construction	304 Stainless Steel, CRN code stamped pressure vessel
Piping Construction	All Welded and Flanged Face 304 Stainless Steel piping
Type Of Valves And Actuators	All Bray valve Lug style-  150 ANSI flanges
Control Philosophy	Customer supplied their own PLC panel. Res-Kem supplied the enclosure with DIN rail mounted solenoids. Enclosure also had room for customer supplied HMI
Options	CRN code stamped pressure vessel Sub-surface wash

 

304 Stainless Steel Sub-Surface Wash and Hub and Laterals Distributors

 

Condensate Polisher Shipped to Michigan

A condensate polisher for a district heating plant in Michigan was shipped last week. 


Dual Skid-Mounted Condensate Polisher for District Heating Plant in Michigan

Customer:	Utility District Heating
Water treatment application:	Condensate Polisher to scavenge trace hardness and iron
Expected savings:	Loss prevention keeping heat transfer surfaces clean and reliable for years of trouble free operation
System configuration:	Dual Parallel. On-Board Controller has a relay to indicate start and stop of regeneration process on each polisher vessel. The plants in house DCS system then ramps down the flow rate to each condensate polisher based upon regeneration schedule and times
Materials of construction:	Pressure vessels are 304 stainless steel with 125 psig ASME code stamped All face piping is welded and flanged Schedule 40 SS 304ss welded to B31.1 standards
Valve and actuators type	All automated valves are Bray valve Lug style for 150 ANSI flanges. Actuators are Bray pneumatic.
Control philosophy:	The utility didn’t want to reinvent a control scheme within their DCS, so the off the shelf controllers are being used locally to control both units. System parameters like individual tank flow and regeneration status are outputted to the plants DCS system.

For Additional Information:
Condensate polisher bulletin
Rental condensate polisher bulletin
Condensate polisher portfolio page
Boiler feed water checklist

Industrial Water Softener Shipped to Repeat Food Flavorings Customer in New Jersey

Res-Kem recently shipped a second 84 inch industrial water softener to the same food flavorings plant in southern New Jersey. The water treated by the water softener is used to make steam to sterilize the raw plant material prior to extraction and to extract the flavoring. The softener is the replacement to a second existing tank which has failed after 40 years of service.

Second 84"Water Softener prior to Shipment to Food and Flavorings Plant

Emptying and Removal of Old System:
Before the system was shipped, our service team coordinated their work with the company's mechanical contractor to remove the resin and gravel from the existing, corroded system. Our service team brought our trailer mounted diesel vacuum system to remove the media and prepare for disposal by the customer. After we were finished, the old system was cut apart for scrapping by the contractor.

Vacuum Trailer used to Remove Ion Exchange Resin
and Gravel from Existing Water Softener

New System:

The new system is an 84" diameter steel vessel and is finished in an epoxy coated interior and exterior. The customer asked us to change our normal blue color to red.  We hope to provide the white tank next fiscal year (do you see the theme??)  We also were asked to change the face piping to Schedule 10 304 stainless steel. As before, the valves are Bray valves with Bray air-to-air actuators. The system is controlled by an Aquamatic 962 controller. At this point, regeneration will be initiated manually when production will allow. To handle the existing uneven floor, four jack legs were provided.

System Operating Parameters:

Since most of the steam ends up in the plant matter and the extracted flavor ingredient, very little steam condensate is returned. This make the makeup flow very large. Each of the three softeners operate at 200 gpm and 80 psig. Because to the system's age, corrosion of the tanks and piping have become a maintenance nightmare.

Second Condensate Polishing System Shipping to a North Carolina University

Res-Kem is shipping the second of two condensate polishing systems to a leading private university in North Carolina next week.  This is the second of two systems sold to this same university in the past year and a half.  This system treats 400 gpm of dirty condensate.

Res-Kem's Dual 54 inch Sodium Cycle Cycle Condensate Polishers

To improve the ROI, through energy savings, this system is designed with a separate source of cold water for backwash, brine draw and slow rinse.

What is the Res-Kem water treatment application?	Sodium cycle condensate polishing to remove iron and hardness
What are the operating conditions?	Flow: 400 gpm Pressure: 30-100 psi Temperature: 200F Continuous
What is the system configuration?	Dual tank, parallel operation 54” in diameter tanks
What ion exchange resin was used?	47 cubic feet of Purolite C-150 highly cross-linked macroporous cation exchange resin in each tank
Materials of construction?	316 SS ASME code with a 150 psig design pressure 316 SS Hub and Lateral 316 SS Subsurface Wash Distributor 316 SS Schedule 40 Welded face piping
Type of Valves and Actuators?	Bray McCannalok Series 41 with Series 93 pneumatic actuators with manual override
Special Features?	Subsurface wash Cold water used for separate source backwash, brine draw and slow rinse Condensate fast rinse 316 Stainless resin traps after each system

Additional Information:
Listing of Condensate Polishers Built by Res-Kem
Online Catalog of Res-Kem Condensate Polishing Equipment
Condensate Polisher Technical Bulletin
Condensate Polisher Application Checklist 
Purolite C-150 Technical Bulletin
For Technical Help From a Res-Kem Sales and Application Engineer

Iron and Manganese Removal Filter Shipped to Westchester County HQ

Res-Kem recently shipped a 52 gpm dual tank greensand filter to a Westchester County New York corporate headquarters campus.  This filter uses greensand to remove dissolved and precipitated iron and manganese from the water coming from the local public water system.

Dual 36" Greensand Filters with
Bray 31 Valves and Bray Series 93 Pneumatic Actuators

Water Problem:

At a Westchester County corporate headquarters campus, about 4 to 5 times a year, our customer experiences water quality and quantity problems. The campus receives its water from a local public water supplier. High levels of iron and manganese are present within the public water distribution system, and peak flow events such as hydrant flushing or firefighting activities have caused brown water to be drawn into their water system. What exacerbates the problem is the campus is at the end of the water distribution system without looping.

Therefore, iron and manganese laden sediment accumulates the piping and is drawn into the campus drinking water system. Res-Kem designed and constructed a filtration system to remove iron and manganese from the drinking water, as well as a storage tank. The volume of the tank is 150,000 gallons which provides two days of storage in the event of a water emergency with the water supply.


System Solution:

Inlet Iron and Manganese:	Average Inlet Iron 0.22 mg/l Average Inlet Manganese 0.11 mg/ml
Flow Operating Conditions:	Typical: 52 gpm typical
System Configuration:	Dual Parallel 36" diameter ASME Code, carbon steel tanks Epoxy Lined, NSF 61 certified Schedule 80 PVC face piping Differential Pressure Switch initiated backwash Greensand Plus filtration media
Control Valves:	Bray Series 31 valves with Bray Series 93 actuators
System Operation:	Differential Pressure Switch initiates backwash cycle
Added Features:	Domestic water booster pumping system brings filtered water backwash to system Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCL) serves as the chemical oxidant for the removal of iron and manganese in the filtration system. The NaOCL will be injected immediately upstream on the system influent piping header. Chemical dose will flow paced based from the signal from the filtration systems influent flow meter.

For Additional Information:
Technical bulletin on Res-Kem's Greensand/Greensand Plus filters
Online catalog for Greensand Filter Systems
Technical bulletin on Greensand Plus filtration media for iron and manganese removal

Condensate Polisher Product Bulletin Updated

Res-Kem has updated the features list of our standard condensate polisher product line because we had important ones which we did not tell anyone about!

For example:

• All of the welded stainless steel piping and tank components have always used the expensive and necessary bead blasting and passivation, for long condensate polisher system life
• All our stainless steel piping is welded per ASME Section IX
• All our laterals use wedge wire screeening

Duplex Alternating 48" Condensate Polisher
with Optional Bray Valves

Stainless Steel Header & Wedge Wire Lateral Distributors
Installed Above
Stainless Steel Hub & Wedge Wire Laterals

Also, one common option customers have asked for is to provide stainless steel headers.  For most multiple unit systems we have sold, we have provided the inlet, outlet, brine, sub-surface wash and drain headers.  We needed to add this information to the bulletin as well.

Additional Information:
New Condensate Polisher Bulletin

Downloadable CP Checklist

Need help sizing a Condensate Polisher

Three Duplex 80 gpm Multi-Media Filters Ready for Shipment

Res-Kem is has delivered 20 of the 40 customized, duplex multi-media filters for mobile enhanced oil recovery trailers. The Res-Kem multi-media filters are sized to continuously produce 80 gpm of water to downstream equipment including steam generators.  The trailers generate steam which is injected into wells to recover more oil. The system started out as one of our customizable standard duplex multi-media filters.

Three Duplex Multi-Media Filters Being Prepared for Shipment

We added the following features to meet the customer's requirements:

• UV resistant tank coating for enhanced tank life
• Welded Schedule 10 stainless steel face piping for corrosion resistance
• Skid mounting on stainless steel frame
• Custom configured inlet and outlet piping locations to minimze piping between  other equipment on trailer
• Bray butterfly valves with position indicators and limit switches
• All valve solenoids and limit switches are wired to a single NEMA 4X stainless steel box to be interfaced with PLC which will control all equipment on the trailer
• Resin trap on the product line of each filter to protect downstream equipment

For additonal information:

Res-Kem's Multi-Media Filter System Bulletin
Res-Kem's Complete Filtration Product Line
Res-Kem's other industrial water treatment equipment
For technical assistance and system pricing

3D CAD Drawings for Condensate Polishers for University in Massachusetts

In order to speed installation of the condensate polishers we recently shipped to Massachusetts, Res-Kem was asked to provide 3D CAD files for the condensate polishers.  Here are some screenshots of these drawings.

Solidworks 3D CAD drawing of Triple Condensate Polisher

Why use 3D CAD?
Given the complexity of the installation, tight dimensions and tight timeline, the 3D drawing helps the mechanical contractors understand how the condensate polisher is assembled and needs to be installed.  Also, prior to receiving the system, the contractor can bring piping to the equipment saving on site installation time. 

In addition to the standard AutoCAD and Solidworks files we sent to the customer, we sent an executable file.  This allows anyone, with or without a CAD program, the ability to select any view and take dimensions off of the drawing.

Alternate view of 3D CAD drawing of Stainless Steel Condensate Polishers

Contact us for assistance sizing and selecting a condensate polisher for your plant.

Condensate Polishing System Shipped to University in Massachusetts

A triple all stainless steel condensate polisher was shipped to a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The system is designed to treat 445 gpm of condensate and is replacing an existing unit which had reached the end of its life.  This is part of a major upgrade of the steam plant including the condensate polishers, a triple dealkalizer system, which Res-Kem will provide in November, and a deaerator.

Res-Kem Triple Stainless Steel Condensate Polishing System

Here are the key features of the condensate polisher:

• For long equipment life, the system has three, 54" ASME-code tanks manufactured in 304 L stainless steel. 
• To simplify field installation, the system includes inlet, outlet, drain, backwash supply, brine and sub-surface wash headers.
• The condensate polisher incorporates Bray 31 series butterfly valves with 92 series air open/air close actuators.
• We supplied a custom designed FRP NEMA 12 panel with an Allen Bradley PLC with three solenoid boxes..
• 304L stainless steel face piping.
• Regeneration initiated via totalized flow or differential pressure.
• The flow sensors to measure the treated condensate from each of the vessels were supplied by others.
• The differential pressure switches are Orange Research 1203 DP transmitters with 4-20 mA output.
• A subsurface wash is included to increase the time between regenerations increasing total energy efficiency.
• A brine distributor for reduced salt usage
• A separate source backwash is included to increase condensate heat recovery.
• To prevent downstream damage, stainless steel resin traps are included in the treated water line.

Condensate Polishing System Being Off-Loaded at Customer's Site

Given the small space where the system is located, the standard design of the condensate polisher had to be re-engineered.  For example:

• The three pressure vessels could not be evenly placed because a vertical support beam would be in the way making each header piece unique.
• A height restriction required numerous engineering design iterations to get the system in the space allotted.
• All headers needed to be nested in a very small envelop on the front of the system.

Additional information:


Condensate Polisher Checklist Webpage Version
Condensate Polisher Checklist - PDF Version
Condensate Polisher System Brochure
Need Applications Engineer

Condensate Polisher Shipped to Arkansas

We shipped another condensate polishing system last month. This dual tank unit was shipped to a government facility in Arkansas.

Here are the key features of the polisher:

• The system has two, 36" stainless steel, ASME-code tanks mounted on a skid to treat steam condensate.
• The condensate polisher incorporates Bray 31 series butterfly valves with 93 series air open/spring return actuators.
• We use a custom designed FRP NEMA 4X panel with an Allen Bradley PLC.
• 304L stainless steel face piping.
• Regeneration initiated via totalized flow or differential pressure.
• Seametrics model IP101S flow sensors measure the treated condensate from each of the vessels.
• The differential pressure switches are Orange Research 1201 series.
• A subsurface wash is included to increase the time between regenerations increasing total energy efficiency.
• A separate source backwash is included to increase condensate heat recovery.

Additional information:
Condensate Polisher system brochure
Condensate Polisher Checklist
Need Applications Engineer

Condensate Polisher Shipped to a Virginia University

This past month, we have built and sent another condensate polisher to a major university in Virginia. This stainless steel system with carbon steel piping is designed to treat 175 gpm and designed to operate at 100 psig and 200 F. The system has dual ASME-code 36 inch diameter tanks. The piping is Schedule 80 carbon steel with flanged connections.
The system has stainless steel ion exchange resin traps on each vessel to protect equipment downstream from catastrophic underdrain damage.

The valves used where Bray butterfly valves with air actuators and handwheel overrides. The system used AquaMatic Controllers.