Water is essential in the steel production process – as is the ability of steel producers to conserve and reuse water whenever possible. When one of our steel customers was facing water balance issues related to their initiative to reduce water usage, we worked together to help them solve their challenges and meet their water conservation goals.

As part of their efforts to reduce water use, the plant was recycling all of the blowdown (the water drained from cooling equipment to remove mineral buildup) from the four non-contact cooling water systems to the main process water system, which supplied cooling water for the continuous caster and rolling mill. Because the non-contact cooling water cycles were not optimized, excessive blowdown was entering the process water system, leading to the water balance issues.

$125,000

Our team completed an audit to understand the dynamics of the water systems, and found that poor control of the make-up and blowdown valves was leading to excess fresh water make-up use. And the existing treatment program had increased stress on the cooling towers, causing corrosion, iron deposits and water losses. Our team installed 3D TRASAR™ technology on four open, recirculating cooling systems to detect changes in water chemistry and determine corrective action needed. Combined with our Ecolab Global Intelligence Center, this solution helped stabilize our customer’s balance issues while helping them reduce their water usage.

• Water savings of 60 million gallons of water a year
• Water consumption per ton of steel reduced by nearly 30%
• Cost savings of $125,000 annually