The California state legislature has mandated that reclaimed water (Title 22 water) be utilized for industrial applications in order to conserve the state’s fresh water supply. Because cooling systems are typically the largest consumers of water in an industrial plant, cooling tower make-up is the most likely candidate for use of reclaimed water. Although reclaimed water potentially offers many environmental, political, and economical benefits, its use poses many challenges to the successful treatment of an industrial cooling system. This paper presents the major concerns associated with the use of reclaimed water as cooling tower make-up, identifies the required monitoring and control schemes, and discusses the treatment results at the first California oil refinery using reclaimed water (treated Title 22 water) for cooling tower makeup.
Keywords: Ammonia, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chloride, conductivity, control, cooling towers, corrosion, deposition, dispersant, industrial water treatment, inhibitor, microbially influenced corrosion (MIC), microbiological growth, monitoring, phosphate, reclaimed water, stress corrosion cracking (SCC), Title 22 water, and treated Title 22 water.