WATER QUALITY PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN MANY PROCESSES, FROM PERFECTING THE
TASTE OF BEER TO MAXIMISING COOLING EFFICIENCY.
P
rocess water often has to
be modified to meet the
required quality standards,
either as part of a manufacturing
process or to prevent corrosion,
microbiological build-up or
scale formation. Monitoring a
combination of pH, chlorine,
reduction potential (ORP),
temperature and conductivity is the
first step in achieving the optimum
process conditions. Combined
with precision flow measurement
and control circuits, the quality of
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process water can be achieved and
documented.
From cooling towers to craft
breweries, process water has a wide
variety of uses and each application
has different demands. Water
quality is often controlled using a
blending process that combines two
sources of water of known quality
to produce the required process
quality. This can be achieved either
by ratio control or quality control
procedures.
Preventing corrosion and the
deposition in cooling towers for
example can be achieved through
the careful blending of treated
and raw water to create the right
balance for make-up water used
to maintain system levels. Water
blending also has a significant
effect on consumables such as beer,
where the taste is affected by the
water composition going into the
fermentation process, so monitoring
and maintaining a high-quality
source of process water is essential.