100 GPM Reverse Osmosis w/ Polishing Softener

Complete Water Solutions was asked to provide a 100 GPM Reverse Osmosis System with ancillary equipment. The RO System is being used to provide feed water to the boiler system. The boilers are high-pressure steam boilers requiring low conductivity, low hardness, along with low silica levels. First complete water solutions to a water sample for analysis to determine the correct treatment options. The facility is currently using water directly off of Lake Michigan and at times will switch over to city water when needed. We took this into consideration when building the system.

The first piece of equipment was a multi-media filter used to trap particulate and sediment prior to the RO System. Because the water could be turbid at times, the multi-media filter would help in reducing the turbidity and particulate loading. The equipment selected was the Fleck 3150 with time digital controllers. The controllers were tied back to the PLC to force the media filters into regeneration and to let you know which units were online.

Next was the RO System – the 100 GPM RO System was equipped with an Allen Bradley 1400 Micrologix PLC also allowing the customer to control the RO Operations from the operator station. The RO System was equipped with Anti-scalant feed (hardness) and bisulfite feed (chlorine).

The 3rd piece of equipment that was selected was the polishing softener. The RO system will not remove all the hardness but will remove the majority. Even after the RO system, there was roughly 4-5 PPM of hardness left over. The polishing softener was put in place to remove that hardness. The units selected were a triplex fleck 2900 with nxt controllers. The softeners were equipped with a remote source for regeneration as not to use RO water or require the RO to run 100% of the time. Polishing softeners also save on space, water, and salt versus putting the softener up-stream of the RO System.


Savings Calculations: Pre Softening vs Post Softening

Inlet Water Hardness 121 PPM
RO Permeate Hardness 5 PPM
Option A  Option B
Steam Load 28,109 PPH 18,740 PPH
Estimated Water Make-Up Per Hour 3,514 Gallons 2,343 Gallons
Estimated Water Make-Up Per Day 84,336 Gallon 56,232 Gallons
Estimated Annual Make-Up 365 30,782,640 Gallons 20,524,680 Gallons
PRE RO SOFTENER
Softener Pre RO Capacity Between Regen 90,000 Gallons
Salt Per Regeneration 450 Lbs
Waste Water Per Regeneration 1,315 Gallons
ESTIMATED ANNUAL USAGE PRE RO
Regenerations 342 228
Estimated Salt Usage 153,900 LBS 102,600 LBS
Estimated Waste Water 449,730 Gallons 299,820 Gallons
POST RO Softener
Softener Post RO Capacity Between Regen 300,000 Gallons
Salt Per Regeneration 75 Lbs
Waste Water Per Regeneration 228 Gallons
ESTIMATED ANNUAL USAGE POST RO
Regenerations 103 69
Estimated Salt Usage 7,725 LBS 5,175 LBS
Estimated Waste Water Usage 23,484 Gallons 15,732 Gallons
SAVINGS POST RO VS PRE RO SOFTENER
Salt Savings 146,175 LBS 97,425 LBS
Waste Water Savings 426,246 Gallons 284,088 Gallons

The Savings for post-RO Softening was evident in the modeling.

Want to look for savings at your facility? Is Post Softening Right For You?

Contact Complete Water Solutions at  (855) 787-4200 or info@complete-water.com

About The Author

Nathan Olszak
28 Year Of Water Treatment Equipment Experience. I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn from the ground up. Starting in the water treatment field as a service technician. Servicing all major brands of water treatment equipment. Give Us A Call (855) 787-4200 or Email info@complete-water.com

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