General Water's services are used in many industrial, commercial and municipal applications, including:
General Water has ready access to a variety of different medias because our sister company, Res-Kem Corp., stocks and sells these products. As a result we can respond quickly to emergency situations outside of the typical DI water applications.
- Softener Exchange
- Condensate Polishing Exchange
- Activated Carbon Tank Exchange
- Iron Removal Tank Exchange
- Multi-Media or Filtration Tank Exchange
- Regeneration of Segregated Resin Lots
- Other Special Applications
If you have a particular process not mentioned here, feel free to contact us; however, we do not process ion exchange resins used for heavy metal removal or other hazardous applications.
Mixed Bed Quality Water
The goal of a mixed bed DI system is to create very high quality, mineral free water with a specific resistance of at least 18 megohm. A mixed bed DI tank contains a mixture of cation and anion ion exchange resins. As the water goes through the mixed bed resin it is essentially seeing cation and anion beads almost simultaneously. In effect it is going through an almost infinite number of separate bed systems: cation/anion, cation/anion, cation/anion. The water is more thoroughly deionized as a result.
A cation/anion/mixed bed DI tank configuration will typically yield 10-15 megohm water. Add an additional mixed bed to this configuration and the water quality increases to 18 megohm.
|Cation - Anion
|Cation - Anion - Mixed Bed
|Cation - Anion - Mixed Bed - Mixed Bed
|Single Mixed Bed
||Depends on feed water quality
|RO - Single Mixed Bed
|Mixed Bed - Mixed Bed
|Multiple Mixed Bed
The purity of the water produced as a result of these configurations is influenced by the quality of the feed water and regeneration. Use for guideline purposes only.
Separate Bed Quality Water
In a two-bed or separate bed deionization system, the cation and anion ion exchange resins are in separate tanks. The water flows through the cation tank first and this decationized water flows through the anion tank. In general, this configuration will yield water quality of less than 1 megohm, typically 300,000 ohms or 0.3 megohm. Separate bed DI tanks are typically put ahead of mixed bed DI tanks. Doing so should increase the run length of the mixed bed tanks thus lowering the net cost of making DI water.
General Water Services has water softener resin available for temporary or permanent installations. Temporary water softener systems are most commonly installed during a planned or unplanned shutdown for maintenance or repair of the in house water softener. Water softener exchange systems are commonly used in areas where brine discharge is now allowed or for batch treatments of a custom product.
Water softeners are used in many industries to treat what is commonly called "hard" water. Calcium and magnesium are the most common hardness ions. Sodium (Na) form cation ion exchange resin removes hardness minerals from the water. As the water passes through the cation resin beads the more highly charged calcium and magnesium minerals are traded or exchanged for less harmful sodium.
Hardness ions tend to precipitate out and on to surfaces such as boilers, auto-claves and steam generators. The resulting scale buildup will impede water flow through the pipes or tubes ultimately reducing heating efficiency. Softened water is also used in many process applications such as the production of cleaning agents and chemical production.
Condensate Polishing Exchange
Sodium cycle condensate polishers are used to treat condensates from industrial boilers. Treatment of the condensate results in soft water and reduction of iron oxides (crud). Condensate polishers are not usually run to a hardness endpoint. They are regenerated or exchanged based on differential pressure or crud leakage.
In general, most sodium cycle condensate polishing systems are regenerable and owned and operated by the customer. Although infrequently requested, we have supplied exchange tanks for condensate polishing. General Water condensate polisher exchange tanks are 316 stainless steel and have stainless steel tank internals. We use macroporous cation exchange resin for these applications because of its oxidative properties and ability to withstand high temperatures.
Condensate polishing exchange tanks make sense for customers who have temporary applications such as power peaking stations that operate for short periods of time, or as a temporary replacement during repair of an in-house system. Companies with environmental limitations may consider long-term condensate polishing tank exchange to avoid on-site regeneration.
Activated Carbon Tank Exchange
Although most commonly used to remove chlorine prior to RO systems or DI water tanks, Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) exchange tanks are readily available for installation and delivery. Like DI exchange tanks, activated carbon exchange tanks are available for temporary or and long-term lease. Typical carbon exchange tank installations include bottled water applications for the removal of chlorine and chlorine byproducts such as trihalomethane (THM), and under special circumstances treatment for removal of low-level VOC's, organics or other harmful waste byproducts.
Iron Removal Exchange
Depending upon the application, General Water Services can install Greensand Plus, specialized ion exchange resins or other media for the removal of iron (Fe++). Typically these applications include batch treatment of products that require little or no iron or to prevent staining of fixtures.
Multi-Media or Filtration Tank Exchange
General Water has a wide selection of filter media for the physical removal of suspended solids. The choice is largely dependent on the desired water quality end-point. As with condensate polishing, filters are generally owned and operated by the customer.
General Water can supply filters for temporary applications, pilot study purposes or batch treatment processes.
Segregated Resin Lots
General Water maintains ion exchange resin just for high purity applications. Due to process and/or company requirements, some ultra-pure deionized water users require a separate, segregated lot of ion exchange resin. In order to do so we require a minimum lot size of 120 cubic feet of mixed bed ion exchange resin or 60 cubic feet of anion exchange resin and 40 cubic feet of cation exchange resin. The following chart outlines the options associated with having a segregated resin lot.
|Purchase new ion exchange resin for regeneration
||No multi-year regeneration contract
||Large capital expenditure
|Lease new ion exchange resin
||No capital expenditure
||Multi-year regeneration contract
|Segregate GW existing resin
||No capital expenditure
||Multi-year regeneration contract less the new resin charge
|All options include annual resin testing and certificates of analysis with shipment or delivery.
Other Special Applications
Customers may purchase or supply their own media for use in General Water tanks. We will fill the tanks, make the exchange, unload the spent media, assist and advise on disposal arrangements if necessary.
Contact General Water for Industrial, Commercial and Municipal Water Deionizer Services
General Water is a regional service company with a variety of different applications for our DI water service offerings. Contact us for further assistance.