Title: See the Light - Take Control of Your Chemistry Using Fluorescence
Learner Objectives:
Recent advances in fluorescent tagged and traced water treatment chemicals coupled with improvements in fluorometer design and communications can save time and improve monitoring and control of your treatment program.
Content/Topic Outline:
- Fluorescence measurement is instantaneous and accurate, and requires no reagents, chemical handling or disposal
- Fluorescent traced polymers have the same CAS number and physical properties as their non-traced counterparts, making it easy to convert existing products to fluorescent ones
- Fluorometer technology has improved significantly, with the better models providing excellent color and turbidity compensation, better optical filters, low power consumption, and communications through digital Modbus and Bluetooth
Presenter:
Raymond M. Post, P.E.
BSE, Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, 1976
Mr. Post has 45 years of industrial water treatment experience, including the development, application, and evaluation of cooling water treatment programs. Prior to joining United Water Consultants in 2019, Mr. Post held several positions with ChemTreat, Betz Laboratories and GE Water including director of cooling technology, global technical leader for cooling water chemistry, power industry technical manager, senior technical consultant, and positions in product development, product management, and technical services. Mr. Post is a licensed professional engineer and a member of the Cooling Technology Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. Mr. Post has been an advisor to EPRI on water conservation research and served on the EPRI Open Cooling Water Chemistry and Closed Cooling Water Chemistry Task Groups. He holds 4 US Patents and has authored more than 50 technical papers on industrial water treatment.
Publications 2015-2020
- Post, R.M. and Buecker, B., “Cooling Water Solutions for Power Plant Professionals”, Energy-Tech University, 2-day seminar, April 2015.
- Post, R.M., “Systemas de Enfriamiento”, Half day technical seminar, Santiago, June 2015.
- Post, R.M., Kalakodimi, R.P. Tribble, R.H., Lamm, J., and Nelson, J.L. “Advances in Cooling System Passivation and Layup”, Electric Power Research Institute, Louisville KY, August 2015.
- Post, R.M., Kalakodimi, R.P. Tribble, R.H., Lamm, J., and Nelson, J.L. “Advances in Pretreatment, Passivation, and Layup of Cooling Systems”, International Water Conference, Orlando FL, November 2015.
- Post, R.M., Kalakodimi, R.P. Tribble, R.H., “Advancements in Cleaning and Passivation of Cooling Water Systems, Cooling Technology Institute, Houston TX, February 2016.
- Post, R.M., “Cooling Tower Chemistry with a Focus on Microbial Control. When It’s Not Good to be Green”, Cooling Technology Institute Educational Seminar by Invitation, Houston TX, February 2016.
- Post, R.M., “Phosphorus-Free Cooling Technology”, NAES O&M Managers Conference, New Orleans LA, May 2016.
- Post, R.M., Buecker, B, and Marlett, M., “Zero Liquid Discharge Operations and Chemistry”, Energy-Tech University, 2-Day Seminar, December 2016.
- Kalakodimi, R.P., Tribble, R.H., and Post, R.M., “Can Rusted Surfaces Be Effectively Passivated to Reduce Further Corrosion?”. Cooling Technology Institute, Feb. 7, 2017.
- Kalakodimi, R.P., and Post, R.M., “Benefits of Novel Cooling Water Chemistry on Refinery Economics”, AIChE 2017 Spring Meeting, San Antonio TX, March 27, 2017.
- Buecker, B and Post, R.M., “Conquer Cooling Water Treatment Challenges”, Chemical Processing, May 23, 2017.
- Post, R.M., Buecker, B, and Shulder, S., Power Plant Cooling Water Fundamentals. Half-day training course for Electric Utility Chemistry Workshop, Champaign, IL, June 6, 2017
- Post, R.M., “Development and Application of Non-Phosphorus and Non-Zinc Corrosion Inhibitor Technology for Once Through Cooling Water Systems, EPRI SWAP Conference, Skokie, IL, July 24, 2107.
- Post, R.M. and Buecker, B, “Staying on Top of Cooling Water Treatment”, Chemical Processing Best Practices Series Webinar, July 20, 2017.
- Post, R.M. and Kalakodimi, R.P., “The Development and Application of Non-Phosphorus Corrosion Inhibitors for Cooing Systems”, World Energy and Engineering Congress, Atlanta GA, September 2017.
- Post, R.M., et al, “A Holistic Approach to Microbiological Control in Cooling Systems and the Environment”, International Water Conference, IWC-47, Orlando, FL, November 2017.
- Post, R.M. Kalakodimi, R.P., and Buecker, B., “An Evolution in Cooling Water Treatment”. Power Plant Chemistry, 2018, 20(6), December 2018
- Post, R.M. and Buecker, B, “Reclaim Water for Cooling Tower Makeup; Not as Simple as Perceived”, Cooling Technology Institute, TP19-02, Houston, TX, February 2019
- Buecker, B., Post, R.M. and Kramer, N., “Advances in Sustainable, High Performance Cooling Water Treatment”, Syngas 2019, Houston, TX, March, 2019.
- Post, R.M., Leitze, J, and Bush, M, “Advances in Contact and Non-Contact Cooling Water Treatment”, Association for Iron and Steel Technology, Pittsburgh, PA, May, 2019
- Buecker, Brad and Post, Ray, “Improve Your Cooling Tower Treatment”, Chemical Processing, June 2019
- Buecker, B. and Post, R.M., “Cooling Towers: Water-Treatment Options Advance”. Chemical Engineering, July, 2019
- Kalakodimi, P., Du, T, and Post, R, “Advances in the Monitoring and Control of Cooling Systems Chemistry”, Cooling Technology Institute, Paper TP20-14, February, 2020
- Buecker, B., Post, R., Leitze, J., and Bush, M., “Advances In Cooling Water Treatment for the Steel Industry”, Iron and Steel Technology, AIST, May, 2020
- Post, R., Kalakodimi, R., and Buecker, B., “Advanced Cooling Tower Water Treatment”, Hydrocarbon Processing, June 2020
- Cooling Technology Institute – Author/Contributor
o WTG-168 External Plant Water Reuse for Cooling Tower Makeup Water (2022)
o WTG-155 Internal Plant Cooling Water Reuse (rev. 2021)
o WTG-161 Consensus Cooling System Performance Guidelines (Final draft sent to ad hoc review, expected finalized July 2022)
Patents:
US 5,401,311 – Method for removing deposits from cooling water systems
US 5,401,323 – Method for removing clay deposits from cooling water systems
US 10,407,778 – Corrosion Inhibition for Aqueous Systems Using a Halogenated Triazole
US 11,230,484 – Methods and Systems for Calcite Removal Using Polysuccinimide
US 2021/0171781 A1 – Methods and Compositions for Inhibiting Corrosion on Metal Surfaces
Presentation Description:
Monitoring and control of cooling, reverse osmosis, and boiler water treatment chemistry has evolved considerably through the years. Wet chemical benchtop analysis of individual grab samples followed by manual adjustment of chemical metering pump output has been widely practiced since the 1960’s and is still in use today. Many improvements to the manual process have evolved over the years including metering pumps with feedback capabilities, equipment that automates the sampling process and performs wet chemical analysis, and methods that involve the incorporation of fluorophores in the treatment chemistry. Fluorescence has advantages over colorimetric wet chemistry in that fluorophores can be detected at much lower levels and can be measured with robust solid-state probes placed in the water flow. Early fluorophore applications, although well received commercially, had limitations. Specifically, the fluorophore was initially applied only as an inactive tracer added to the finished product, and the sensing fluorometers struggled with accuracy in “dirty” waters with iron, turbidity, and other contaminants. This paper discusses the application of fluorescence to monitoring and controlling water treatment chemistry and discusses recent advances that make it even more compelling for the water treater:
- application of fluorescent tracers to cooling, reverse osmosis, and boiler applications
- development and application of fluorescent tagged polymers for deposit control
- ease of formulating with fluorescent-traced equivalents of common dispersant polymers
- use of fluorescence for measuring additional chemistries including copper corrosion inhibitors, chlorine, and chlorine dioxide
Presenter Bio:
Raymond M. Post, P.E.
BSE, Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, 1976
Mr. Post has 45 years of industrial water treatment experience, including the development, application, and evaluation of cooling water treatment programs. Prior to joining United Water Consultants in 2019, Mr. Post held several positions with ChemTreat, Betz Laboratories and GE Water including director of cooling technology, global technical leader for cooling water chemistry, power industry technical manager, senior technical consultant, and positions in product development, product management, and technical services. Mr. Post is a licensed professional engineer and a member of the Cooling Technology Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. Mr. Post has been an advisor to EPRI on water conservation research and served on the EPRI Open Cooling Water Chemistry and Closed Cooling Water Chemistry Task Groups. He holds 4 US Patents and has authored more than 50 technical papers on industrial water treatment.