Special Analysis

Ion exchange resin gets fouled by iron, manganese, aluminium and even the precipitation of hardness as sulphate in the case of sulphuric acid being used for regeneration. Ion exchange resin also gets fouled if oil finds its way into the resin vessel blocking the exchange sites.

Oxidizing agents such as chlorine also cause irreversible damage to ion exchange resin. The same damage happens when there is a back flow of hot water into the resin especially from hot condensate. However, the most notorious foulant to anion resin is organic matter and all these affect the performance of the ion exchange resins. GCM Water recommends and provides resin testing facility to ensure the optimum performance of your water treatment system.

GCM Water performs the following tests on your resin:

• Total Exchange Capacity (TEC)
• Water Retention Capacity (WRC)
• Organic Fouling
• Resin Fouling
• Particle Size Distribution

The complete analysis of a deposit is critical in determining the appropriate deposit control program for a machine. On-site evaluations using light microscopy and simple qualitative tests provide preliminary answers to the problem. More detailed information is obtained from semi-quantitative and quantitative laboratory analyses. The resulting data on the deposit combined with system knowledge are essential in choosing and implementing the correct deposit control program. Deposits are a combination of organic, inorganic and microbiological content but common scales are calcium and magnesium carbonates and their silicates.

The following tests are performed:

• Loss on ignition (LOI)
• Inorganic Elemental Analysis by XRF, AAS, ICP and Titration

There are different types of corrosion from selective leaching, galvanic corrosion, and erosion corrosion to stress corrosion cracking. It is important to know exactly the nature of corrosion to be able to put in place appropriate control mechanisms. GCM Water has specialists in failure analysis and corrosion testing.

A wide variety of chemicals exist for use in clearing raw water of suspended solids in coagulation/flocculation processes. It is known that the effectiveness of these coagulants has a complex dependency on the nature of the raw water, being affected by such things as temperature, pH, and especially the specific proportions of organic, inorganic, and biological particles that constitute the suspended solids. Furthermore, it is typically found that combinations of coagulants can be used to achieve much higher performance and process efficiency, but this performance again depends on the complex nature of the water source.

GCM Water Treatment Technologies provides coagulation/flocculation testing for customer water samples to recommend appropriate treatment chemicals as well as dose rates and projects long term chemical needs.