Posted by William Vander Plaats on Fri, Aug 27, 2010 @ 11:50 AM
Heat exchanger fouling is a costly situation in terms of both (a) loss of water system efficiency and (b) maintenance costs, as well as (c) countless other problems it can cause in an HVAC or process water environment. When properly applied, filtration of the water and process fluids before they enter the heat exchanger can prevent fouling from occurring. For systems containing dirt, sediment and other solids, the savings can be huge, and can include water savings, energy savings, as well as others.
A multinational equipment manufacturer in the Midwestern U.S. faced this situation on their production line, where heat exchangers were repeatedly clogging and fouling due to scale in the process water. Among other problems, this made it very difficult for the heat exchanger to maintain the proper temperature for the water, wreaking havoc with the production process. The company tried using bag filters to solve the problem, but bags need to be emptied when they are filled. In this situation, the scale and other solids in the water was so great that the bags had to be replaced once every 5 weeks. The cost in materials and labor to change the bags was over $80,000 per year, and that did not include other costs being driven higher due to the lowered efficiency of the entire system or the lost production time.
A Better Filtration Solution
Frustrated by the costly and not very effective bag filter solution, the maintenance team at this large company continued to look for other solutions to their problem. They found it -- a nearly maintenance-free filtration solution that also lowered water usage and kept the heat exchanger operating at maximum efficiency 24/7. It was a complete filtration solution that included a LAKOS Centrifugal Separator and purging system. The time it took for the reduced expenses of the new system (just heat exchanger cleaning costs alone) to pay back the costs to buy it and install it? Less than 6 months.
Download The Heat Exchanger Fouling Solution Case Study
Get more details about this situation, as well as the BEFORE and AFTER costs to clean the system. Heat exchangers are valuable pieces of equipment, and keeping them running efficiently will yield tremendous savings. Effective filtration is a great way to accomplish this goal.
Posted by William Vander Plaats on Thu, May 20, 2010 @ 12:53 PM
Engineers have inquisitive minds and like to know how things work. They are often the first to try something new, sometimes out of curiosity, but also from a desire to discover better methods and smarter techniques. Things like better designs for products and buildings, such as those directed by LEED standards, sustainability, and life cycle costs. They also discover better ways to communicate with each other and with others in their field.
So as a group, how has the engineering profession -- and especially those in the building and HVAC sectors -- accepted and adopted social media communication tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook? So far the results seem mixed.
HVACRBusiness Magazine conducted a poll of its readers late last Summer, in which 26% said they already had company Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts, but 48% said they WOULD use social media if they only knew how. It's one reason why HVACR Business created a special social media site just for HVACR contractors at SocialTract.com where contractors can create and maintain their own blogs with minimal effort. Some individual contractors and engineering firms have braved the new social media world on their own, such as California-based Rosenthal Plumbing, whose music video on YouTube has been viewed more than 5700 times. Blogs, videos, and other methods can also be used to answer questions about preventing heat exchanger fouling and cooling tower basin cleaning.
Industry associations and media like ASHRAE and Contracting Business have embraced social media as well. ASHRAE has corporate Facebook and Twitter accounts and also maintains a special MySpace account just for students. Social media can be a great way to look for job, such as using a Twitter account that lists jobs just for HVAC.
LinkedIn And Professional Groups
One of the best uses of social media is for networking and strengthening existing relationships. LinkedIn maintains a number of groups relating specifically to HVAC, engineering, and filtration that are a great resource for sharing information. That list includes:
- Consulting-Specifying Engineer (153 members). For engineers and others who have a professional interest in buildings. Topics of interest include sustainability, innovative design solutions, awesome new products, career development, industry events, and more.
- Filtration Networking (1300 members) For those interested in networking throughout the industry to share market/product knowledge, industry contacts, job search, and general information.
- CleanTechies Around The World (10,000 members) Joining requires approval in this group for active professionals, committed students, concerned citizens, interested politicians, and devoted educators. Consists of engineers, lawyers, financiers, technicians, consultants, architects, designers, communicators, students and teachers who are pursuing careers in CleanTech.
- Water Treatment Solutions (2454 members) This group is for water treatment professionals to exchange knowledge and ideas about water problems. Subjects to be discussed are related to treatment of wastewater, cooling water, and boiler water and other.
- MyWaterPlantJobs Group (218 members) A group for those who manage, operate and maintain water and wastewater treatment plant facilities worldwide.
- Wastewater Construction Group (502 members) Their goal is to communicate in all disciplines relating to water, wastewater and reclamation facilities, including design and construction.
It's Your Turn
What about YOU?
Have you jumped into the social media pool yet? You can start out slow and easy by:
- Join LinkedIn and check out some of the many forums and groups there, including the LAKOS LinkedIn account
Posted by William Vander Plaats on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 01:17 PM
Few process industries require clean water more than the steel industry. Whether it be an integrated steel mill, mini-mill, cold rolling, plate mill, or other, the need to keep the water free of dirt, scale, and other solids has a large effect on the efficiency of the mill. This leads to less scrap and a reduction in water use. Not to mention other benefits as well.
The Arcelor-Mittal steel plant in Burns Harbor, Indiana, is a 
perfect example of the many ways in which industrial water filtration can keep descaling pumps, heat exchangers, and other components of the process cooling system operating efficiently. Formerly owned by Bethlehem Steel, this is one of the largest steel mills in the world. A few of the many ways in which centrifugal separators are used for filtration at this facility include:
- Keeping the coolant water rollers clean on the plate leveler
- Protecting the rollers on the heating bed
- Preventing scale build-up and damage to the descaling pumps
- Preventing the need for manual heat exchanger cleaning
- Nozzle cleaning
- Many others, including 25 different centrifugal separators operating in the mill at one time
As their 40-year millwright veteran Joe Saiken puts it, “The great thing about a LAKOS Separator is that you put one in and then you forget about it. They keep our systems running without a hitch and with no downtime.” Arcelor-Mittal utilizes LAKOS filtration in several other locations as well, including steel mills in Lazaro Cardenas (Mexico) and the Saldanha plant in South Africa. Our Case Study AB-210 provides details how the effective use of
industrial water filters helped these mills solve problems and save money.
The Burns Harbor example is unique only because of its size. Other steel mills have experienced similar results.
California Steel in Fontana,
POSCO steel in Korea, and the
Lukens Steel Company in Pennsylvania are just three other steel mills which have turned to LAKOS filtration to minimize waste,
prevent heat exchanger fouling, and prevent other process problems.
Would you like more details about the TYPE and SIZE of particles removed by centrifugal separators in steel production, and see a more complete list of installations around the world?
Download the
Steel and Primary Metals Filtration Guide today !
Posted by William Vander Plaats on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 @ 02:14 PM
Cooking oil is a vital component in food processing. This is especially true of companies preparing products in the snack food industry. Selecting the right oil, and keeping it clear and clean for as long as possible not only improves the product quality but also maximizes profits.
Backer's Chips in Fulton, Missouri, is one such company (www.backers.com). Founded in 1931, their potatoes were originally peeled by hand, sliced in a hand crank slicer and cooked in a 16-inch diameter donut kettle just a few pounds at a time. 
The company has changed locations several times since then and its plant now produces over 7,000 pounds of potato chips per hour. One thing it has never changed is a commitment to making the highest quality potato chips possible. That includes using the latest deep frying techniques.
So when they learned they could install a single piece of machinery that claimed to:
- Improve product quality
- Reduce production costs
- Reduce cooking oil waste
- Use a minimal amount of energy
they jumped at the chance to see if the product claims were true.
By using a centrifugal separator with other filtration components in an integrated system, they found that indeed, all this was possible. Crumbs and "fines" that once accumulated in the oil and plugged the heat exchanger were now removed before they could accumulate, keeping the oil clear for much longer production runs. And the best part is that the entire system is virtually maintenance free.
Sound too good to be true? See for yourself.
Download the Backer's Chips Case Study detailing exactly how they installed the system and how it helps them maintain the quality they always demand while improving efficiencies at the same time.