Water Treatment

A Water Treatment Industry's Unplanned Downtime Is Costly

When an equipment in the manufacturing line fails, production is down. It may take days or even weeks for repair and replacement to be completed. Workflows are interrupted, there is a loss in output capacity and revenue.

Downtime costs every plant at least 5% of its productive capacity, while many may lose up to 20%. An estimated 80% of industrial facilities are not able to accurately estimate their total downtime cost (TDC). 

Aberdeen Group

Studies show that 55% of maintenance is reactive while only 43% is preventive.

Preventive Maintenance Is Important

Systems breakdown due to a number or combination of factors, rarely just one. This results in devastating loss of equipment the Water Treatment Industry. 

Lacking or irregular maintenance procedures also increase the likelihood of equipment failure or human error. Combine this with inconsistent processing situations, the result can be costly with unplanned downtime.

Unplanned downtime negatively affect production capacity and increase operating expenses. The damaged equipment must be inspected properly and repaired fast before beginning operation again.

Preventive maintenance increases the reliability of equipment which is critical to achieve long-term profitable operations and tackle rising materials costs. This entails having detailed site-specific maintenance schedules, procedures, and training.

Maintenance procedures should include five phases:

1. 
   
2. Initial Survey of Process
3. 
   
4. On-Site Study
5. 
   
6. Development of Schedule and Training
7. 
   
8. Implementation of the Maintenance Plan, and
9. 
   
10. Follow-Up to Determine Success Rate. 
11. 
    

Heat Exchangers in the Water Treatment Industry

In water purification systems, Heat Exchangers are used in several applications:

1. 
   
2. to cool purified water as it circulates through a distribution loop,
3. 
   
4. to sanitise a distribution loop with hot water,
5. 
   
6. to sanitise activated carob tanks with hot water, and
7. 
   
8. preheat water for a chemical process. 
9. 
   

Water Treatment Plants can consume an extensive amount of energy and with energy costs on the rise while being closely monitored, Heat Exchangers are a great way to reduce expenses. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the tubes in Heat Exchangers are properly maintained and performing well.

Minimise Tube Failures

Three main areas for improvement to minimise future in-service tube failures are: 

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• Tube Testing 
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• Re-Tubing Strategy During Turnarounds
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• Design Improvements in Heat Exchangers
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For the first point of tube inspection, we recommend using a suitable tube inspection device. This device needs to have the ability and accuracy to detect the common flaws found in the Heat Exchangers. 

Common Problems

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• ​​Process Corrosion
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• Blockages from Sludge
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• Process Fouling
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Heat Exchangers to Inspect with APRIS

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• Sanitary Shell and Tube
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• Spiral Tube
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• Straight Tube
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• U-Tube
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Tube Inspection with APRIS

Technologies for inspecting Heat Exchanger tubes are constantly changing and improving rapidly. With increased sophistication and complexity of today’s Non-Destructive Examination (NDE) techniques, the operator’s skill level is becoming more vital. 

To correctly identify the flaws and tube failures, a reliable technology and technician is needed.

APRIS is a smart tube inspection device that doesn’t compromise the ease-of-use with higher complexity and sophistication. 

A typical tube inspection tool would require a user to have years of experience. But with APRIS, any technician can accurately find flaws with little training.