Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions

E.C.O.Film Non-Phosphorus Cooling Water Technology

Reduce operational risk, achieve compliance with stricter environmental regulations, and address social challenges

Deposition in critical cooling operations can limit production, algae growth can cause discharge violations and high biocide usage, and many customers now face increased phosphorus limits. Veolia's non-phosphorus1 cooling water treatment chemistry is designed to provide non-phosphorus mild steel corrosion protection and scale control in cooling systems.

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Veolia's E.C.O.Film Technology

With a long history in technology development, Veolia is a leading innovator of non-phosphorus chemistry for cooling water. Through years of testing non-phosphorus corrosion inhibitors and developing refined treatment programs, Veolia has developed E.C.O.Film, or Engineered Carboxylate Oxide (E.C.O.), a technology that is designed to provide complete deposition (scale) and corrosion protection in open recirculating cooling water systems without the use of any phosphorus or EPA priority pollutant materials. 

Removing the phosphate typically used for corrosion inhibition and deposit control eliminates the risk of costly calcium phosphate deposition, reduces the nutrient load in the water that can fuel biological and algae growth, and allows you to meet stricter phosphate discharge limits without the need for a costly equipment solution. The simplicity of the program improves safety, reduces acid usage and handling, reduces program and chemical feed complexity, and reduces chemical handling. E.C.O.Film is the only cooling water product available that helps customers address social challenges, and brand and community image with a new approach to chemistry and minimal impact on the environment around the customer. 

E.C.O.Film Chemistry

E.C.O.Film - Engineered Carboxylate Oxide Technology

Veolia's propietary E.C.O.Film technology is the only technology available that provides mild steel corrosion protection and complete system treatment:

  • without the use of phosphorus
  • without EPA priority pollutants such as zinc, and
  • without the use of halogen-reactive, galvanic-corrosion-inducing tin additives 

E.C.O.Film products make use of specialized C-H-O polymer technology to promote the formation of a protective film on mild steel surfaces in cooling water systems. These polymeric additives have only Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), and Oxygen (O) components with a protective film that is 80% thinner than phosphate-based programs, which are typically only 20-50 nm thick and self-limiting. In some applications, a surface film formation catalyst (SFFC) is used to enhance film formation and corrosion protection in tough-to-treat waters.

E.C.O.Film chemistry is simple to apply and manage. Typical cooling towers using 2, 3, or 4 products for scale and corrosion control now have the option of cost-effectively managing only 1-2 products to achieve the same performance. Fewer products mean less chemical handling, less risk of cross-contamination, less maintenance on chemical feed pumps and equipment, and reduced safety risk for your team.

In addition, all E.C.O.Film products contain a fluorescent tracer that can be used to control the product feed rate in real-time, reducing the number of complex tests required to manage a cooling water system and the time your team must spend managing the cooling water chemistry. 

How does E.C.O.Film non-phosphorus cooling water treatment work?

The E.C.O.Film Package

Chemistry is only part of the solution

E.C.O.Film is designed to be simpler to operate and control, with more feedback on operating conditions and performance, and the ability to select increased levels of automation than previous cooling water solutions. Typical installations include real-time monitoring and control equipment to ensure corrosion and deposition are under control. This includes:

  • Sateq* - visualize deposition risk with saturation modeling software for cooling water applications 
  • E.C.O.Film Chemistry - prevent corrosion and deposition with phosphorus-free technology
  • TrueSense* MonitAll* - online, real-time deposition monitor and heat exchange simulator
  • TrueSense Ready, Set, Go (RSG) - controller with pH, ORP, and conductivity, along with the ability to monitor chemical levels in real-time
  • Corrators - monitor corrosion potential in real-time to ensure consistent protection and respond to excursion events
  • Smart Pumps - never again question if the chemical feed system is working correctly
  • Tank Level Sensors - supervise and confirm automatically that products were added according to plan
  • InSight* - view and track cooling system performance and provide effective alarming based on intensive monitoring, on a proactive basis. 

Impact on your Operation

Corrosion

Veolia's E.C.O.Film programs are designed to provide excellent corrosion rates for mild steel metallurgy. Field data shows that customers can achieve <1 mpy with E.C.O.Film and as low as 0.6 mpy in applications so far. In general, E.C.O.Film not only provides excellent corrosion rates for mild steel but also works with an azole component to provide excellent copper metallurgy corrosion protection as well.

Deposition/Scale

Using E.C.O.Film technology reduces or eliminates the phosphate level in your system. Every 1 lb of phosphorus can translate to 5.41 lbs of calcium phosphate deposition that can reduce throughput and production and increase energy cost, ultimately impacting your profitability. Removing the phosphate from the program can eliminate the risk of calcium phosphate deposition. Systems currently experiencing phosphate fouling, or those with low flow or shell-side cooling heat exchangers, vertical heat exchangers, high-temperature heat exchangers, and multi-pass heat exchangers can all see a positive impact from removing phosphate. Unlike traditional based programs that use polymers to inhibit deposition of the phosphate corrosion inhibitors in a constant balancing act, E.C.O.Film is an entirely polymeric program with a surface film formation catalyst that is naturally soluble. The E.C.O.Film components are not at risk of causing deposition like competitive treatment programs and can be significantly overfed without the risk of deposition.

Microbiological and Algae Growth 

Phosphorus is a nutrient that biological organisms and algae need for growth. In most regions, phosphorus is the limiting nutrient in their growth, which means if more is added, an increase in growth is observed. This is commonly seen in lakes and ponds with algae blooms. 1 lb of phosphorus can produce 500 lbs of wet algae that can affect the downstream environment, require additional, extensive biocides to kill, and cause violation of some NPDES discharge permits for a variety of reasons. E.C.O.Film uses no phosphorus and therefore does not increase the phosphorus nutrient load in the water. 

Performance

How does E.C.O.Film perform compared to other cooling water programs?

There are many different types of cooling water programs available on the market today. Traditional programs utilize phosphate or phosphonate, sometimes in combination with zinc, and EPA priority pollutant, for corrosion control. Recent developments in non-phosphorus chemistry have resulted in the industry accepting and utilizing zinc/polymer and tin/polymer blends for corrosion control. Proprietary E.C.O.Film technology does not use zinc or tin due to problematic environmental, solubility, and halogen-reactivity issues.  

E.C.O.Film vs Competitive Tin Program

LSP Whitewater reduces phosphorus discharge with E.C.O.Film non-phosphorus cooling water treatment

LSP Whitewater, a cogeneration power plant located in Wisconsin, needed to significantly reduce the phosphorus output of their cooling water treatment program to meet local regulatory restrictions. To avoid a $1.8M capital expenditure, LSP Whitewater turned to Veolia’s E.C.O.Film non-phosphorus cooling water treatment to provide an alternative solution that would eliminate phosphorus from their cooling water program, while maintaining mild steel corrosion rate and overall system performance.

1May contain trace amounts.