Objective
Cooling Tower (CT) Water systems are widely used in industrial and commercial sectors to cool processes and HVAC systems. CT system cooling water must be treated to avoid scaling, corrosion and bio-contamination that cause high economic losses. Traditional water treatments, chemical additives and water blowdowns, are becoming obsolete. Chemical additives are hazardous and banned by increasingly stringent regulations. Blowdowns are unaffordable since water is becoming a precious resource. New technologies are needed to perform water treatment in an affordable and clean way.
Recently, electrochemical softening has appeared as a non-expensive and clean alternative. However, its widespread use is being ballasted by the lack of reliable monitoring systems, which optimizes the energy supplied to prevent corrosion. I-SOFT is a ground-breaking approach to on-line monitor the scaling events in the CT system with an innovative feedback control that regulates the power supply output, providing a full and highly accurate removal of scale and bio-fouling without promoting corrosion. It is based on our wide know-how in electrochemical systems, with more than 5.000 installations globally, which has produced 50% in water savings, 24% reduction in OPEX and 100% reduction in chemicals. However, I-SOFT will improve that: 25% and 15% extra water and energy savings, respectively, resulting in an average cost reduction of €500.000/year in common industrial plant.
I-SOFT has been developed by UET, a company founded by David Sherzer, one of the 100 most Influential people in Israel in the environmental sector.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
84965 OMER
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.