Cooling Tower Cleaning
EPSCO has the largest manpower specialized in Cooling Tower cleaning services and we have been providing top-notch CT cleaning for over 25 years now. EPSCO team of chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, biochemists, HSE engineers, legionella risk assessors, CTI qualified technicians are available round the clock to carryout the cleaning services.
EPSCO has the expertise in handling cooling towers cleaning of any capacity and size, from smallest to largest CT, from a building cooling tower to highly sophisticated industrial, from a marine CT to large district cooling plants in the Middle East region.
The fundamental function of a cooling tower is to cool the warm water from a chiller (condensate water) or the warm water that is generated by industrial equipment or process in an industry. There are two types of cooling towers — open-circuit cooling towers and closed-circuit cooling towers. Open circuit cooling towers also known as wet cooling towers, use evaporation to transfer the excess heat to the airstream passing through it and cool down water to a temperature lower than the ambient temperature.
Over time, cooling tower fills accumulate deposits of scale, debris, microfilms, bacteria, and fungi. This causes reduced heat transfer, foul odor, damage to the fills, inefficient functioning of the cooling tower, and increased overall cost of operation. EPSCO has worked on several cases of a high build-up of scale and deposits where an unclean set of fills have weighed 10 times more than its original weight (in a clean state). Regular and professional CT cleaning improves heat transfer efficiency and reduces energy bills.
The Cooling Tower cleaning process begins with the EPSCO team acquiring adequate information from customers to understand the system, existing maintenance program, maintenance history, the immediate environment. The team also physically inspects the site and system for estimation and selection of cleaning methods and equipment.
On approval of our written proposal, a plan of action to effectively and efficiently descale the hard scales and sulfate salts of calcium, magnesium, and sodium is shared with the customer.
EPSCO uses CTI, HSG274, DM-PHS-2010 standards to prevent and remove scales using the tested techniques that rightly work for the cooling tower. It is recommended to do a 6 monthly routine cleanup to dissolve mineral deposits fast and to prolong equipment life. Also, yearly deep cleaning is recommended to comply with DM guidelines for legionella prevention & control. Timely routine cleaning allows the system to run to its optimum efficiency and keep the operational cost in control.
Condenser Tube/Heat Exchangers Cleaning and Eddy Current Testing
Condensers are mainly used in power plants, refineries, district cooling, industrial and chemical plants, and several other types of plants. Scaling, fouling, and corrosion are the major issues in condenser tube maintenance. They can be addressed with a combination of good water treatment and timely cleaning of the tubes. In the absence of these, the scale build-up will cause corrosion of tubes, turbulence in water flow leading to a localized surge in velocity, and deterioration of the tube integrity.
Condensers are a vital part of the refrigeration cycle and the condenser tubes continuously convey warm water, in the process transferring the heat out of the water to reduce its temperature. Well, maintained and clean tubes are necessary to carry out the heat transfer process efficiently. The efficiency of the condenser to reduce the water temperature inversely affects the overall efficiency of the plant.
In the due course, the condenser becomes inefficient and reduces the heat transfer rate due to contaminants in the cooling water circuit and the scale build-up in the tubes. Even 0.8 mm scale formation inside the condenser tube can significantly increase the energy consumption up to 35%.
Therefore, an effective condenser maintenance program is an absolute necessity if the plant owner or operator wants to have the optimum output from their plants. A routine condenser tube cleaning regime shall be a part of the overall condenser maintenance program.
EPSCO’s Condenser Tube Cleaning
EPSCO has been carrying out condenser tube cleaning projects for over 25 years. EPSCO’s cleaning program starts with a site visit. A detailed discussion with the suited customer representative is done to gather all required information for estimating and planning the cleaning program and schedule. EPSCO sends a detailed proposal outlining the scope and all the deliverables. On confirmation of the order to carry out the work, EPSCO works with our customers to finalize a work plan. A method statement, risk assessment, and work schedule is shared with our customers for their review.
EPSCO uses one or a combination of the conventional methods of tube cleaning for removing the contaminants like chemical circulation, jet cleaning, and manual brushing. EPSCO team consists of a Mechanical or Chemical Engineer and technicians. Back-office technical support is always available to provide additional support. EPSCO technicians have technical qualifications and experience and are trained to operate the crane, open and close the covers, and do pressure testing. Selection of chemical is done by experienced Chemical Engineer. Our safety team closely monitors the safety at work by carrying out an adequate number of inspections. All the team members are given adequate safety training and the company maintains a safety culture. All the equipment used for the condenser tube cleaning is imported from the best equipment manufacturers. Thus EPSCO ensures condenser tube cleaning is carried out efficiently and at the best quality.
Where customer requirement demands eddy current testing, EPSCO can provide eddy current testing of the tubes to understand the tube interior surface condition and the degree of degradation if any. The Eddy current is a non-destructive testing way to inspect condenser tubes.
EPSCO’s eddy current testing is carried out by trained and certified technicians and comes with detailed reporting. EPSCO has the latest Eddy current equipment and the latest models are procured from top-notch suppliers.
EPSCO ensures energy saving, improves plant efficiency, reduces power consumption by offering the services as per the ASTM, API, ASME standards. EPSCO’s techniques that are used to detect and clear the corrosion completely avoid damaging the costly equipment and help to maintain the equipment’s lifespan.