Challenges with Waste Water Mineral Deposits

Waste water presents a unique series of challenges when it comes to the problems of mineral deposits. This is because scale problems in waste water can occur in both soft and hard water areas of the country, and commonly the scale does not only consist of calcium carbonate but is often comprised of other products such as the phosphates of iron and magnesium.

As regulation becomes ever tighter within the water industry and as companies move more to anaerobic digestion there is an increasing frequency of scale related problems thought the treatment process.

Mineral deposits can cause numerous problems in waste water treatment such as;  

– Blocked pipework

– Poor digester temperature control

– Reduced dewatering capability                                                 

– Increased energy costs

– Excessive maintenance

– Damaged pumps and centrifuges

The traditional approach to mineral deposits has been to use chemicals to clean pipes.  These though are often expensive and dangerous, and require costly maintenance downtime.

The patented ENiGMA technology significantly reduces this inconvenience by removing and preventing mineral deposits including;

– Calcite
– Struvite
– Vivianite
– Ochre
– Silica

The installation is also non-intrusive so requires no downtime for installation and can therefore be fitted retrospectively to areas of existing problems.

As a company we take considerable pride in the support that we provide for our customers, especially with regard to the performance of the ENiGMA technology. We feel it is important that the customer is aware of the levels of performance our technology brings, which is why performance monitoring is so critical.

Frequently the best way to assess performance is through inspection and simply comparing the levels of scale before and after the installation using photographs. However given the nature of effluent plants it is often not possible to inspect equipment outside of the annual maintenance program. This is where data collation is so valuable.

Using trends such as flow rates, pressures, temperature and power consumption, it is often possible to determine on-going performance and to monitor comparisons between treated and untreated applications.