How to remove foam on the surface of cooling water

[chemag]

This is the 4 years since I found foaming on the surface of cooling water system in our plant site. Until now I don't know the reason why such foaming appears. Charging a chemical to remove such foaming was not effective. I have also checked for leakage of oil or other organic material through heat exchanger or other equipment.

 

Could you suggest me what should I do to remove foaming from cooling water? Or may be some of you have the same problem in the past. Thanks for your help.

[CaptainPanic]

Can you provide something like a drawing or picture of the problem? How big is your system? Are we talking about 1 MW or 1 GW cooling? And do you internally recycle the water, or take in fresh water from a surface water, like the sea, a lake or a river?

 

Without any additional info, I would suggest that you just scoop off the foam.

[chemag]

The system is 1200 m3/hr circulation of cooling water. We make up fresh water and blow down some of cooling water from the system to maintain its quality continuously.

 

In the past, we scooped off the foam from the surface of water. But, the foam had never used up. So, we decided not to do it again. It only wasted our time and efforts.

 

For make up water we use industrial water that is in good condition.I hope this could make thing clear.

Edited October 15, 2012 by chemag

[Moontanman]

Foam suggests an organic impurity in your water. Industrial water in good condition is not a particularly specific description. Do you measure the parameters of your intake water? What sort of industry does this water come from? Is foaming a new problem or an old one? A foam fractionator could remove the foam easily enough, especially if the impurity is organic.

 

I reread your post and realized I am not sure a fractionator that large exists...

Edited October 15, 2012 by Moontanman

[alpha2cen]

How to maintain cooling water cooing system?

The contacting air is clean?

If not, the impurities in the air causes a problem.

Concentration of microorganisms in the water is increased and the microorganism flock sticks in the pipe or the process equipments.

Edited October 18, 2012 by alpha2cen