Case Studies

Pharmaceutical Plant’s Efficiency Improves After Correcting Boiler Issues

As featured in Water Technology Online.

After working with their water treatment vendor for three years, a Southern United States pharmaceutical plant was unable to identify the source of boiler scale and low condensate return rate. The boiler scale and a low return rate were causing increased fuel and operational costs. U.S. Water conducted a plant survey to uncover the boiler system issue. Within a week of the initial plant survey, U.S. Water had [...]

Snack Producer Utilizes New Foam Control Options and Saves $30,000 in Chemical Annually

A major Midwestern snack producer had concerns about the high costs of the defoamer product that they were using and were interested in finding an alternative that would be more cost effective. U.S. Water was already a current vendor for the snack producer’s utility water products and services within the plant, and offered assistance in other areas, which included optimizing the foam control needs of the [...]

Biological Augmentation Minimizes Odor, Improves Environmental Safety and Optimizes Operation at Wastewater Treatment Facility

A protein further processing plant located in midwest United States was concerned with objectionable odors, hydrogen sulfide levels, and poor system efficiency in their wastewater treatment plant. The cause of these issues was found to be a sludge cap on their waste receiving pit and the associated growth of anaerobic bacteria beneath the cap. To remediate this problem, select strains of naturally occurring aerobic [...]

Power Plant Water Treatment System Restored After a Decade of Non-Use

After ten years of inactivity, a midwestern combined cycle power plant needed to bring its water treatment system back into operation. The previous equipment had been sitting idle after the previous owner went bankrupt, and required major cleanup and upgrades. While other water treatment companies were offering a chemical exclusive program, it was evident the plant would require a complete integrated solution to once [...]

MIOX Primary Disinfection Solution Eliminates Facility Safety Concerns While Optimizing Cooling Tower Performance

Fouling associated with the excessive growth of microorganisms including bacteria, algae, and fungi is a natural, but preventable, issue in most cooling tower systems. As a common problem, facilities have a variety of chemical and mechanical disinfection solutions available when developing a treatment program. A South Dakota industrial manufacturer was combining ozone and a non-oxidizing microbiocide to manage [...]

U.S. Water's ProClean AB 1000 Optimizes Ethanol Producer's Fermentation Process and Reduces Treatment Costs

Even with quality cleaning practices in place, there is a risk of bacterial infection during the fermentation process of ethanol production. When bacteria are present, it can inhibit yeast productivity and loss of alcohol production can occur. Many ethanol producers utilize an antibiotic program to control bacteria growth and optimize product yields. A Midwest ethanol producer was utilizing a competitor’s [...]

Ethanol Final Filter Improve Plant's Final Product Quality in Two Days

After commencing an enzyme trial, an upper Midwest ethanol plant discovered elevated sulfate levels as fermentors were cycled through the plant. Out of spec ethanol cannot be marketed, and plant operations needed to act quickly to fix the product to avoid costly product rejection fees or plant shutdown. The plant was familiar with Kurita America’s ethanol industry experience and the Ethanol Final Filter (EFF) [...]

Ethanol Final Filter Commercialized; Problems Solved at Fuel Ethanol Plant

After an ethanol plant initiated some significant process changes, they encountered a final product sulfate issue that they had not faced before. Although the process changes provided excellent yields and the related economics were sound – meeting the final product quality specifications for sulfate became a problem. Blending provided a degree of relief, but created logistical challenges. The customer looked to [...]

Automation in Cooling Towers Reduces Water & Saves Hospital Thousands

With the State of California initiative to reduce water usage by 20% by the year 2020, many plants are focusing their responsibility to become a more environmentally friendly facility. One such facility included a large California hospital seeking to reduce the water treatment costs for their HVAC system. The hospital has three (3) individual cooling tower systems that service three (3) centrifugal chillers which [...]

U.S. Water VOxOUT® Successful in Emission Control

U.S. Water’s Ethanol Process Technologies (EPT) team engaged in a CO2 Scrubber performance comparison evaluation in an Eastern United States dry grind fuel ethanol plant with a 100 MMgpy nameplate. Parameters compared were: Compliance Reliability Application Cost Residual Bisulfite – and its impact on both yeast vitality and final product sulfur content Accompanying Value The EPT [...]

Reducing Water Use in Ethanol Plants

republished with permission from Ethanol Today , December 2010 In the agribusiness sector where acronyms abound, some corn producers and ethanol plant investors are learning yet another one: ZLD It stands for “zero liquid discharge,” and it could be an important future trend for the ethanol industry as plants weigh the possible benefits of treating and re-using water that has already been [...]