Water, Reverse Osmosis & Wastewater Treatment

A variety of chemicals are used to treat and condition drinking water including concentrated sodium hypochlorite (bleach) used as a disinfectant and concentrated sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) to balance pH. Both chemicals are very harmful in their concentrated form to facility personnel and the environment and are stored in tanks which require safety precautions for over-pressure conditions.

Desalination is a separation process used to reduce the dissolved salt content of saline water, typically from seawater or groundwater, to a level usable for potable drinking water. One process utilized to accomplish this is reverse osmosis (RO). In the RO process, water from a pressurized saline solution is separated from the dissolved salts by flowing through a water-permeable membrane. Rupture disks from ZOOK, suitable for contact with potable drinking water, are idea for protection against an over-pressure condition.

A safety relief valve automatically releases pressure from a boiler, pressure vessel or other pressure system when the pressure exceeds pre-set limits. A rupture disk is an excellent solution for isolating the pressure relief valve from power plants when the process fluid is highly corrosive to the safety relief valves internal components (trim). By installing a rupture disk fabricated from special alloy rather than the valve trim will dramatically reduce the cost of the safety relief valve. In addition, using a rupture disk in combination with a safety relief valve provides zero process leakage, the release of fugitive emissions and allows in-situ testing of the safety relief valve and extends the working life of the safety relief valve.

Filtration systems are designed to remove suspended particles, certain types of bacteria and unwanted dissolved substances. Membrane and ultra-membrane filters remove particles and some dissolved solids. Ion-exchange filters use resins to filter out unwanted ions, while other systems remove dissolved solids through a precipitation process. In each of these filtration processes, back pressure is created as large capacity pumps convey water through filters. For pump protection, as well as protection of the integrity of the overall system, rupture disks from ZOOK can provide relief from an over-pressure condition.

Similar to the water treatment industry, there are several physical filtration and chemical treatment processes that wastewater undergoes before being acceptable for released into the environment. Most of these processes are pump driven and protection from excessive backpressure is provided using rupture disks from ZOOK, preventing potential environmental impact from untreated wastewater.