Saving water with support systems
When I was preparing to write this article, I saw a quote from Ed Jakoby that says:
“Pressure comes from within and so must be mastered from within”. It basically means that, you cannot always control external factors, but at best maybe influence them. How you respond and deal with it, is the one thing you can control! No point in getting upset with people or situations, as they are powerless without your reaction. Now this is a great mind-set to live by and if I may be honest, helped me out with a lot of things in life.
Since mechanical seals don’t have artificial intelligence yet, we still develop support systems to help them deal with pressure and stay cool and clean at the same time. So what else do we want to achieve with support systems? Here is a short recap:
1. It helps keep a positive pressure on both sets of seal faces
2. It keeps the product away from the seal faces
3. Product vaporisation is prevented
4. It allows a lower pressure in the stuffing box
5. By quenching for internal faces as a positive pressure is maintained for the external seals
6. It clears debris
7. It allows sealing under high pressure applications
8. And reduces seal face wearing
Which support system to select depends on the process and the desired effect. One of the aspects that becomes more important these days, is water savings. So in this article I would like to zoom in on it a bit more.
Water scarcity
The 2018 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report stated that nearly 6 billion people will suffer from clean water scarcity by 2050. This is the result of increasing demand for water, reduction of water resources, and increasing pollution of water, driven by dramatic population and economic growth.
So this is a serious concern, but at the same time, the production in plants must also go on.
The good news is that there are solutions available, without having to make concessions in the production process. Now here is an example for a solution provided for a plan 62 with an upgrade to a more efficient seal support system:
Old Situation a Plan 62:
The main Advantage is that it gives maximal cooling. The disadvantages however are:
- Water consumption
- Effluent disposal
- Needs monitoring (man power)
- Operational Problems (Dirty water), etc..
The water consumption is: €0.0023 Per Litre, 7 Litres Per Minute, 420 Litres Per Hour, 3.7M Litres a Year, TOTAL COST: €7770/year PER SEAL.
So what could a new situation look like?
Let’s take a look at a plan 53 (barrier), recirculation system.
By putting a higher pressure in the recirculation system, there is a negligible amount of fluid, going into the product, which is about a teaspoon a day.
Now how much water was used this time? In one particular verified occasion it was 20 litres per year, which made a total cost of € 0,05 per year. Sounds much better than €7770 per year, per mechanical seal.
However since every process is different, every solution is a form of customization in one way or another. What if your process is not compatible and does not allow other fluids to get introduced? Well in that case you decrease the pressure in the recirculation system and get a plan 52 buffer system. The point is that there are many business cases and references available that have proved themselves in practise. So we can easily build on that.
So if you are having a sustainability agenda, we can support you by having them realized. One of my colleagues such as Richard Smith can inform you about the specific possibilities within your plant. However if you prefer the Dutch language, just send me a message and I will help you navigate through it.
We just have one world, so let’s try to make the best of it…
Take care!