Thomas Minor of Mobile Water Services, part of Veolia Water Technologies, considers how production security can be at risk if water treatment fails
Across Europe in heavy industries like power, chemical, petrochemical and refining, operators are facing an increasing challenge from their ageing assets, including water treatment plants. The HSE cites the potential degradation of plant and equipment due to age-related mechanisms such as corrosion, erosion and fatigue as a key issue for industry. In addition to safety concerns, ageing plants may also impact continuity of production. This can be seen in permanent onsite water treatment facilities. Ageing plants are not always reliable or efficient, and often emergency maintenance is required to avoid disruption to production which could result in costly downtime for operating sites.
Emergency provision of temporary water treatment is well established and Veolia’s Mobile Water Services are well placed to meet these urgent requirements. However, more and more operators are recognising and seeking the need for a more “permanent temporary” solution. Mobile water treatment providers can bridge a gap for operators with a problematic plant until it can be replaced or repaired or even to bridge a time period if there are variations in feed water supply or quality.
Extending the life cycle of permanent plant
Operators have worked with temporary water treatment service providers to provide a flexible longer term solution to tackle the reliability issue around ageing permanent plant and even extend its potential life cycle. Preventive maintenance and refurbishment of a permanent water treatment plant needs to be carried out more frequently without interrupting the production schedule and not during a planned shutdown. A temporary water treatment system may be deployed to either provide a full replacement or part of the various processes during this interim need. Typical applications include resin replacement, pressure vessel maintenance, controls upgrades, reverse osmosis membrane cleaning or replacement, maintenance on chemical dosing equipment and work on waste treatment plants.
A modular solution
The modular design of mobile water treatment plants allows a variety of process configurations to be combined, making it possible to treat towns’ mains, borehole, river and reservoir water. The containers’ portability enables them to be positioned to make the best use of the available space. Any number of assets can be operated in parallel or in series to provide the required flow rate, and their modularity allows additional components or treatment steps to be added for extra functionality or increased throughput, even if it is only needed for a short period of time. Storage tanks and pumps can also be provided – together with interconnecting fixed pipework or flexible hoses, water meters and fittings – and mobile generators support a completely standalone set-up.
Mobile in action for planned maintenance and turnarounds
Mobile water services can be brought in to cover equipment maintenance, servicing, and changes to raw water supply or provide cover during delayed turnarounds to ensure that production can continue, avoiding costly downtime. This is demonstrated by the experience of a multinational oil and gas company. A turnaround had been scheduled. During the subsequent start-up phase, the refinery needed an extra back-up supply of demineralised water – 100 m./h in both operation and standby – running in parallel with its own demineralised water plant. Mobile Water Services provided a four-trailer configuration to guarantee the water supply and meet the water specifications, including a conductivity of <0.1 μS/cm and <10 ppm of SiO2. This short-term intervention offered a reliable and secure back-up and Mobile Water Services was able to offer fast deployment and commissioning.
Awareness is key
There are numerous benefits that mobile water services can bring to industrial manufacturers facing the challenge of ageing plants. Companies are now not only seeing temporary water services as an emergency service provider, but also understanding the value in a longer term solution to an ongoing issue.
For more information on how Mobile Water Services can ensure business continuity and help to maintain resilient and effective water treatment plants contact us.
mobilewaterservices@veolia.com | 0203 567 7548
www.mobilewaterservices.com