Periodic Water Table with James

Week 1:  PBTC

• First, what does PBTC stand for?  What is its chemical formula?  What is it used for?  What systems is it used in?  How does it compare with other phosphonates?  What does “calcium tolerance” have to do with PBTC?  What concentrations is it used in industrial water treatment?  Is it synergistic with any other water treatment chemicals?  Do you use any products with PBTC in it right now?  Which ones? 

Week 2:   DBNPA

• What is DBNPA?  What is its full, molecular name?  What is DBNPA used for?  What is its method of action to do what it does?  What is the optimal pH range for DBNPA?  What are typical use concentrations?  What is it effective against?  How long does DBNPA take to be effective?  What could make it ineffective in one system but effective in another? 

Week 3:  PTSA

• With the right lighting, this molecule has a certain glow about it.  Why is PTSA used?  Can PTSA be used in both cooling towers AND Boilers?  Why or why not?  How about closed loops?  What does PTSA stand for?  What is a typical dosage of PTSA?  How is the concentration of PTSA measured?  What can cause PTSA to degrade?  Is PTSA compatible with all biocides?  Why did PTSA come into more widespread use within the last decade or so?  Should other parameters be measured regularly in addition to PTSA or can one rely solely upon the PTSA reading when monitoring product dosage? 

Week 4:  Tolyltriazole

• Now, I know some people pronounce it tolytriazole, but there is a second “l” in there.  I was taught to pronounce it tolyltriazole.  It’s also often shortened to TTA or just TT.  What is tolyltriazole used for?  What is its chemical formula?  At what concentrations is tolytriazole effective?  What is the impact of oxidizing biocides upon it?  How does it react with metal surfaces?  How does one test for tolyltriazole?  Are there challenges with blending a product with tolyltriazole in it?

Week 5:  Glutaraldehyde

• What is the nefarious sounding chemistry?  What is glutaraldehyde used for?  Does it have an optimum pH range, and is it a narrow or broad range?  What are typical dosages for glutaraldehyde?  How quickly does it do its job?  What is it effective against?  Will anything cause glutaraldehyde to degrade?  If deactivated, what impact could this have on a closed loop system?  Can glutaraldehyde be tested for in the field or in the lab?  Is it fed continuously or intermittently?  

Week 6:  NaOCl

• What is the concentration difference between retail and industrial sodium hypochlorite?  What is the shelf life of it?  What can make sodium hypochlorite degrade?  What is its chemical formula?  What happens to sodium hypochlorite when it mixes with water?  How does it impact microorganisms?  What are common usage concentrations for sodium hypochlorite?  Does “demand” vs. “residual” mean anything?  What about “free” vs. “total” residuals?  How high does its concentration have to be in water before you can start smelling it?  What is the reservoir effect?  How do you test for it in the field?  Will high sodium hypochlorite levels impact the test?  How may the presence of ammonia impact sodium hypochlorite applications? 

Week 7:  Nitrite

• What is nitrite used for?  What systems is nitrite used within?  What is a typical dosage range?  Can you test for nitrite in the field?  If so, what tests are available?  How are the units expressed for nitrite?  What could happen if two people are unknowingly talking different units when comparing nitrite test results?  What happens if nitrite is overfed?  What happens if nitrite is underfed?  What is the potential impact of microbiological activity upon nitrite?  What are possible byproducts from any microbiological impact?  What could it mean when the conductivity of a closed loop system has remained the same but nitrite levels are dropping?  What is nitrite often blended with for more complete system protection? 

Week 8:  Silicates

• What are silicates?  What are they used for?  What metals do they protect?  How quickly do silicates act to form their protective film?  What is the most effective pH range for silicates?  What is the typical dosage range for silicates?  How do you test for them?  Does microbiological activity have an impact upon silicates?  What other chemistries are silicates often blended with to add additional protection?

Week 9:  Alum

• Aha, we’re touching upon raw water clarification and wastewater treatment here.  What is alum used for?  What is its chemical formula?  What weight percentage of alum is aluminum?  What could happen if alum is overfed?  What form does alum typically come in?  Solid?  Liquid?  How is alum fed to a system? 

Week 10:  Zinc

• Not just a dietary supplement, but an industrial water treatment chemical, too.  What is zinc used for in water treatment?  How does it function?  Does zinc work better alone or along with other water treatment chemicals?  How does pH impact zinc, and what can be done about it?  What’s a typical dosage level for zinc?  What could happen if it is overfed?  How about underfed?  Are there any restrictions that may prevent the use of zinc?  Do any of the products you currently use have zinc in them?  Can you test for zinc in the field?  If so, how? 

Week 11:  Molybdate

• First, what’s the difference between molybdenum and molybdate?  Is molybdate an anionic or cathodic corrosion inhibitor?  How does it inhibit corrosion?  Does molybdate have any similarities to chromate?  How do you field test for molybdate?  What are the ranges for the tests?  How are the test results expressed?  What could happen if two different molybdate test results are expressed in two different units?  What are common molybdate dosages for both open and closed water systems?  Does microbiological activity have any impact on molybdate?  Which test and at what level may the presence of molybdate impact testing for iron? 

Week 12:  Chloride

• What impact can chloride have on industrial water system?  What is the difference between chloride and chlorine?  Does chloride typically take part in precipitation reactions?  How do you test for chloride in the field?  Where is the titration endpoint for chloride?  Why would one calculate chloride cycles of concentration in addition to other cycles of concentration (or concentration ratio) for water systems?  What could add more chloride to a system to interfere with this calculation?  At what level does chloride pose a corrosion danger to stainless steels?  

Week 13:  Calcium Carbonate

• What is the chemical formula for calcium carbonate?  What is its molecular weight?  How is calcium carbonate formed?  How soluble is calcium carbonate?  What impacts the solubility of calcium carbonate?  How can one predict its solubility?  What can be done to increase the solubility of calcium carbonate?  Why is calcium carbonate used to express concentrations of other chemistries such as alkalinity, total hardness, etc?  What does calcium carbonate scale look like?  What are field tests that can be done to identify calcium carbonate scale.  How can calcium carbonate scale be cleaned?  

Week 14:  Alkalinity

• Alkalinity is an important concept to learn.  It can be both simple and complex at times.  What is the definition of alkalinity?  What chemical species can make up alkalinity?  Are pH and alkalinity the same or different?  How are they related?  What is a dissociation curve in regards to various forms of alkalinity versus pH?  How does the level of alkalinity impact the solubility of other chemical elements?  How is the P-Alkalinity test different from the M-Alkalinity test?  What units are used to express these test results?  Do you test for the OH alkalinity or do you calculate it or both?  What chemical species are typically represented by each of these tests?  What can interfere with an alkalinity test? 

Week 15:  Orthphosphate

• Let’s get the basics out of the way first.  What’s the chemical formula of orthophosphate?  Is it an anion or cation?  Even more complex is whether it is considered an anodic or cathodic corrosion inhibitor.  Which is it?  Why are phosphates used in boiler systems?  What concentrations of orthophosphate are used in cooling and boiler systems?  Can orthophosphate be present in makeup water?  If so, why and how could this impact the cooling and boiler systems?  How do you test for orthophosphate?  Is orthophosphate the same as polyphosphate or organophosphate?  How does pH impact the effectiveness of orthophosphate?  Does phosphate react with calcium? 

Week 16:  Bromine

• Is bromine an oxidizing or nonoxidizing antimicrobial?  What is its chemical formula and how does it differ from bromide?  What are typical usage concentrations of bromine?  How does it interact with microbes?  How do you test for it?  How quickly should you test for bromine after sampling?  Should you test for free bromine, total bromine, or both?  What is the impact of pH on bromine?  Is bromine more effective than chlorine at higher pHs or is the story a little more complex than the dissociation curves would indicate?  How quickly does bromine act on unwanted microbiological activity?  What methods are there for getting bromine chemistry into the water?  Can bromine be over stabilized at times with some of these methods?  If so, how likely is this to happen and how would the system recover?  How does ammonia interact with bromine and is this a concern?  What is bromine’s impact upon corrosion?  

Week 17:  Fluorescein

• Let’s start off with why is fluorescein used?  Why is fluorescein typically used in boilers but PTSA used in cooling systems?  What would be the impact if they were switched?  At what concentrations is fluorescein used?  What is the chemical formula?  How does one test for fluorescein?  Can any colorimeter or fluorometer be used or does it take a special one?  What wavelength of light is being measured?  What can interfere with this test?  Can it be measured online?  How would the level of fluorescein be controlled with an online feed and monitoring system? 

Week 18:  Chlorine Dioxide

• What is chlorine dioxide?  What is it used for?  Does the presence of ammonia impact it?  What forms of delivery are available for chlorine dioxide?  Can it be stored or does it need to be generated onsite?  What methods are there to generate chlorine dioxide?  What are some of the hazards of chlorine dioxide?  How do you test for it?  What usage concentrations are typically used?  How does chlorine dioxide compare with other antimicrobials, such as chlorine and bromine?  How selective is its reactivity?  Can chlorine dioxide be used on a reverse osmosis system or not? 

Week 19:  Sulfite

• Aside from sodium sulfite, what are the other forms of sulfite used in industrial water treatment?  What are their chemical formulas?  What are some advantages of using one form over another?  If used in boilers, what pressures can sulfites be used or not used?  Why?  How do you test for sulfite?  What may interfere with the sulfite test?  Does age of the water sample matter when testing?  Does how vigorously you stir the sample matter?  How accurate is the sulfite test?  Have you ever tried running the sulfite test on sulfite-free makeup water just to see what it might show?  In what unit of measure is the sulfite test result expressed?  How quickly does sulfite react?  Is a catalyst ever used to speed the reaction?  If yes, which catalyst?  Can this catalyst ever cause issues itself?  How should one control the feed of a sulfite-based product?  Are sulfites ever fed ahead of pretreatment, such as RO?  Why?  Can the speed and stroke settings impact the effectiveness of such a feed? 

Week 20:  Monomers

• The building blocks of polymers.  What is a monomer?  What are the various forms of monomers used in industrial water treatment?  What functionality can each of these monomers bring?  Are there synergies between them?  How are monomers used to make polymers?  When monomers are combined to form polymers, do all the polymers in a batch have the exact same discrete composition of monomers or is the batch of polymer described more as an average of what the molecules are estimated to be when examined together?  How can supply-chain shortages of a monomer impact industrial water treatment? 

Week 21:  HEDP

• You might already know that HEDP is a phosphonate, but what does that mean?  What does HEDP stand for?  What is its molecular formula?  What percentage of HEDP is phosphate?  Is HEDP used for scale control, corrosion control, or both?  Is HEDP synergistic with anything else?  Does pH have an impact?  Can HEDP precipitate with anything?  If so, how might this be controlled?  Do oxidizing biocides, such as chlorine, have an impact upon HEDP?  How does this impact compare to that of other phosphonates?  Do you use any products with HEDP?

Week 22:  Hydrogen Peroxide

• While we may find it in our medicine cabinets, it has uses in industrial water treatment, too.  First, what are these uses?  How is hydrogen peroxided introduced into a system?  Do you purchase pure hydrogen peroxide or is it generated in-situ?  If in-situ, what other chemicals are involved?  Is hydrogen peroxide fast or slow acting?  What can cause a hydrogen peroxide solution to decompose?  Is this decomposition reaction exothermic or endothermic?  What are the reaction byproducts of decomposed hydrogen peroxide?  Can decomposition cause a dangerous situation?  How do you test for hydrogen peroxide? 

Week 23:  Fenton's Reagent

• Some of you may be thinking I made this one up, but no, I haven’t.  Fenton’s Reagent.  What is it?  What chemicals are involved in the Fenton reaction?  What are the chemical reactions happening?  When and where would one use Fenton’s Reagent?  What dosage ratios between components are recommended?  Do low and high pH have an impact upon the reaction?  Conversely, will Fenton’s Reagent have an impact upon water pH?  What is a hydroxyl radical and how is that different from the hydroxide ion?  

Week 24:  Film Forming Amines or FFA

• What are Film Forming Amines?  Within which systems are they used and for what?  What concentrations are recommended for Film Forming Amines?  How are they first dosed to a system?  What could be the impact if not properly dosed?  Are Film Forming Amines just a single chemical formula or are there multiple Film Forming Amines available?  Can you test for Film Forming Amines?  Are there any possible negative impacts upon applying a Filming Forming Amine to a system?  How do today’s Film Forming Amines compare to those of yesteryear?  When would Film Forming Amines be used in place of other traditional industrial water chemicals? 

Week 25:  Polyaluminum Chloride or PAC

• Okay, I almost always ask this, but what is Polyaluminum Chloride used for?  What is its chemical formula?  Does Polyaluminum Chloride come in a solid or liquid form?  What does it remove?  How does it compare to other aluminum compounds?  What dosages or ratios are recommended?  What could happen if you overfeed Polyaluminum Chloride?  What could be the impact downstream? 

Week 26:  Sodium Hexametaphosphate

• I like how that one roles off the tongue…hexametaphosphate.  So, what is Sodium Hexametaphosphate used for?  What’s its chemical formula?  What systems is it used within?  What dosages are used for Sodium Hexametaphosphate?  When used as a corrosion inhibitor, does it function as an anionic or cathodic corrosion inhibitor?  When used for scale inhibition, is it considered a stoichiometric or threshold scale inhibitor?  Does pH have an impact upon its performance?  How do you test for it and does the test required differ according to which water system it was used within?  What is the acronym used for Sodium Hexametaphosphate?

Week 27:  Sulfuric Acid

• .What are all its uses in industrial water treatment, for both water treatment and testing?  What is its chemical formula and molecular weight?  When used for pH control in cooling towers, what is the feed ratio of sulfuric acid to alkalinity?  What can happen when sulfuric acid is overfed?  How does the density of sulfuric acid compare to water?  What concentrations of sulfuric acid are used in water treatment?  When combining acid and water, which should be added to which?  Should acid be added to water or vice versa?  What are the consequences if you get this wrong?  Can feeding sulfuric acid actually cause scale formation?  What alternative acids are available?  Can bacteria produce sulfuric acid?

Week 28:  Polyphosphates

• What are polyphosphates?  What are some examples of polyphosphates used in industrial water treatment?  What function do they serve?  Are they corrosion inhibitors or scale inhibitors or both or neither?  How do they work?  What pH range are polyphosphates most effective?  Are they synergistic with any other water treatment chemicals?  Can polyphosphates revert back to phosphate?  What factors can increase this reversion?  Do you use any chemical products with polyphosphates in them?

Week 29:  Total Dissolved Solids

• How do you define total dissolved solids or TDS?  Are suspended solids included in this definition?  What are examples of chemicals included?  Are TDS and conductivity the same or different?  How are they related?  Is there one rule of thumb to convert from one to the other or can the conversion differ for different waters?  How is TDS measured?  How is this different from how suspended solids are measured?  How does cycling up affect TDS in a water system?  What might be the impact on TDS if a water system is over cycled or chemical feed is interrupted? 

Week 30:  Cyclohexylamine

• This one is a volatile topic, but what is cyclohexylamine used for?  What is its chemical formula?  What is cyclohexylamine’s distribution ratio?  How does its distribution ratio compare to that of similar chemistries?  How does this relate to distance?  Where is the best place to feed cyclohexylamine to an industrial water system?  Can this recommended feed point change according to the industry?  Can you test for cyclohexylamine?  Are there limits on how much you can feed in certain applications?  Where is cyclohexylamine consumed or lost in a system?  Can cyclohexylamine precipitate with carbonate or bicarbonate?  What pretreatment equipment can be used to reduce the amount of cyclohexylamine needed?

Week 31:  Sodium Hydroxide

• This week’s topic is a little basic, but let’s go.  What are all the uses for sodium hydroxide in industrial water treatment?  How is the solubility of sodium hydroxide impacted by concentration and temperature?  In what environments and what times of the year may this make a difference when shipping and using sodium hydroxide?  What’s the chemical formula of sodium hydroxide?  What problems can it cause in an industrial water system?  Why is sodium hydroxide used in some chemical product formulations?  What safety precautions should be taken when handling sodium hydroxide?  Why is sodium hydroxide also called caustic or caustic soda?

Week 32:  Sulfate

• What’s the difference between sulfate and sulfite?  What is the chemical formula for sulfate?  What problems can sulfate cause in an industrial water system?  What impacts its solubility with calcium?  What about barium?  What chemical products adds more sulfate to an industrial water system?  What treatment technologies can remove sulfate from water?  How is calcium sulfate scale cleaned?  Can you predict the solubility of sulfate salts in a water system?  What rules of thumb or calculation programs are available?

Week 33:  Ammonia

• Ammonia comes into play in several different ways within industrial water treatment.  What are some sources of ammonia that may be coming in with the makeup water?  How is ammonia used in refrigeration?  Could this ammonia contaminate the water side?  How is ammonia sometimes used in boilers?  Are there some industries that prohibit such use of ammonia in boilers?  How does ammonia react with chlorine?  Why is this reaction important, and what does it have to do with breakpoint chlorination?  How do you remove ammonia from water?  How does pH affect the removal of ammonia?  How does the impact of pH on ammonia removal compare to the impact of pH on carbon dioxide removal?  Which metallurgies may be less compatible with ammonia?

Week 34:  Alum

• How is alum used in industrial water treatment?  What is the chemical formula for alum?  Is this a simple question or could alum mean different things to different professions and industries?  In regards to industrial water treatment, what function is alum performing when used?  How does the use of alum impact solids produced as compared to inorganics?  Can alum be used in both raw water and wastewater treatment?  What are common strengths of alum used?  What could happen if alum is overfed?  What could be the impact upon downstream unit operations?

Week 35:  Morpholine

• A neutralizing amine.  What does this mean:  neutralizing amine?  Why is morpholine considered a neutralizing amine?  What is its neutralizing capacity?  What’s its chemical formula?  How does morpholine compare to other neutralizing amines such as cyclohexylamine and DEAE?  How does morpholine’s distribution ratio compare to other amines, and why does this matter?  Should morpholine be used in low pressure boilers?  Where should morpholine be fed into a boiler system?  Could the use of the steam impact where you would recommend feeding the amine?  Are there limitations on how much morpholine you can feed in some applications?

Week 36:  Hydrochloric Acid or HCl

• How is hydrochloric acid used in industrial water treatment?  How is its dosage controlled?  How is its concentration measured?  Is hydrochloric acid ever produced as a byproduct from other industrial water treatment applications?  What are recommended safety precautions when handling hydrochloric acid?  Why would hydrochloric acid be used instead of sulfuric acid in some pH control applications?  Are there material compatibility concerns when storing, pumping, and applying hydrochloric acid that you need to know?  How will the use of hydrochloric acid impact the level of chlorides in a water system?  Why is it sometimes called muriatic acid?

Week 37:  EDTA or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid

• • Some of these words are fun to say and impress your family and friends.  But back to the subject at hand, EDTA.  What is it used for?  What’s its chemical formula?  What does EDTA typically react with?  It’s called a chelant, but does the word chelant mean?  What are the advantages of using EDTA in a boiler water system?  What are some warnings and precautions with using EDTA in a boiler system?  What are the dangers of overfeeding EDTA?  What about underfeeding?  Does EDTA react stoichiometrically with cations?  What does this mean?  Is EDTA synergistic with any other water treatment chemistries, such as polymers and phosphates?  How do you test for EDTA?  What do the phrases free chelant, combined chelant, and total chelant mean?  Are there any other chelant alternatives to EDTA?  Do you use any treatment products that contain EDTA?

Week 38:  Borate

• What is borate?  What is it used for?  What’s its chemical formula?  Is there only one?  How are borate and borax related?  In what products is borate used?  What are typical dosages for borate?  How do you measure the level of borate within a system?  What are common pH levels maintained when using borate?  What could a high level of borate but a low level of nitrite indicate in a closed loop system?

Week 39:  Sodium Bromide or NaBr

• I tried to think of a bromide to say with this one, but my brain had no reaction.  How soluble is sodium bromide?  Is sodium bromide itself a biocide?  If not, how is it used for microbiological control?  When mixing sodium hypochlorite and sodium bromide, what is the theoretical mixture ratio to achieve complete conversion?  Should an excess of sodium hypochlorite be fed to ensure complete conversion?  What if you want a mixture both hypochlorous acid and hypobromous acid?  What ratios of sodium hypochlorite and sodium bromide should you feed?  What challenges could one face when using sodium bromide for microbiological control?

Week 40:  Skipped due to Industrial Water Week

• Don't worry, we make up for the missing episode at the end of the year!

Week 41:  ATP

• Today is Careers Friday of Industrial Water Week, and I thought what better molecule to bring a little energy to the subject than ATP.  Right?  Anyway, what do the letters ATP stand for?  How do cells use ATP?  How do you test for ATP?  Why would you want to test for ATP?  Is ATP found only in living cells or can it be found in dead cells, too?  Does this distinction matter?  Can the concentration of ATP be correlated to plate counts of microorganisms?  When cleaning a system, what do changes in the ATP concentration tell you?  

Week 42:  Citric Acid

• I’ll give you a couple of freebies today.  The chemical formula of citric acid is C6H8O7. It’s preferred IUPAC name is 2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid.  How is citric acid used in industrial water treatment?  In what concentrations is it available?  Have you ever used it?  Is citric acid a strong or weak acid?  Does it react with metals?  If used to clean a system, what precautions or special measures should be taken?  Can citric acid in a system interfere with any water analysis you may be conducting? 

Week 43:  Polyacrylate or PAA

• What is polyacrylate?  What is it used for?  What is a typical molecular weight range for polyacrylate?  Is it any good at inhibiting calcium carbonate scale?  What about calcium sulfate?  What about iron?  At what concentrations is polyacrylate typically applied?  Does the molecular weight of polyacrylate impact the method in which it inhibits scale formation?  What is the chemical formula for the basic monomer in polyacrylate?

Week 44:  Calcium Phosphate

• • How soluble is calcium phosphate?  Is it more or less soluble than calcium carbonate?  How could the degradation of other water treatment chemicals lead to formation of calcium phosphate in a system?  How could the inclusion of phosphate-based chemistry in the incoming makeup water, such as city water, impact the formation of calcium phosphate, especially if you aren’t checking for such chemistry?  How do you clean calcium phosphate scale?  What is the impact of pH and temperature on calcium phosphate scale formation?  Can you predict the solubility of calcium phosphate?  How do you prevent calcium phosphate scale?  When would you actually WANT to produce calcium phosphate precipitation in a water system?

Week 45:  Magnesium Hydroxide

• • The molecular formula for magnesium hydroxide is Mg(OH)2.  That’s one magnesium atom and two oxygen-hydrogen or hydroxyl groups.  How does this compare to sodium hydroxide?  In what form is magnesium hydroxide available?  What color is it?  How do you get magnesium hydroxide into solution?  How much mixing does it need?  What are its uses in industrial water treatment?  Why would one use magnesium hydroxide over sodium hydroxide, lime, or other similar chemistries?

Week 46:  Diethylaminoethanol or DEAE or DEEA

• • Its molecular formula is C6H15NO.  What is DEAE used for in water treatment?  What is its neutralizing capacity?  What is a “distribution ratio” and what is DEAE’s distribution ratio?  How does this compare to morpholine and cyclohexylamine?  What does distance from the feedpoint have to do with selecting DEAE as a best fit?  Are feed limitations placed upon DEAE when used in food production and humidification?  If so, what are they?  Is DEAE blended with anything else?  Why?

Week 47:  AMP or ATMP or Aminotrimethylene Phosphonic Acid

• Its chemical formula is C3H12NO9P3. It is a phosphonate.  What is AMP used for?  Is it synergistic with other ingredients to improve its corrosion inhibitor abilities?  What is the impact of oxidizing biocides upon AMP.  How does AMP compare to other phosphonates?  What is its calcium tolerance?  When would one choose to use AMP?  Can it help control calcium sulfate precipitation?

Week 48:  Isothiazoline

• Is there a single molecular formula or is there a family of chemistries available?  What is isothiazoline used for?  Can you test for it?  Does pH have an impact?  What dosages are recommended?  What microorganisms is it effective against?  How much contact time is required for isothiazoline to be effective?  What is the mode of action for isothiazoline?  What systems is it used in?  Is isothiazoline ever blended with anything else?

Week 49:  Barium

• What should we do with all my chemistry jokes?  Barium.  How could barium cause issues in a water system?  Does barium combine with carbonates, sulfates, or other groups to cause potential problems?  How do you test for barium in water?  Have you analyzed a water sample for barium?  At what concentrations could barium cause issues? If barium is an issue, what tools do you have available to control it? 

Week 50:  ACH or Aluminum Chlorohydrate

• What is ACH used for?  What is its chemical formula?  Does it have a single chemical formula?  Would it be classified as organic or inorganic?  What impact could it have on sludge production based upon other similar chemicals?  What form or forms does it come in?  Solid, liquid, or gas?  How is ACH used outside of industrial water treatment within the world we live?

Week 51:  BCDMH or Bromochlorodimehtyl Hydantoin

• First off, what is BCDMH?  Is it considered an oxizider or nonoxidizer?  In what form is BCDMH available?  How is BCDMH fed to a system?  What are its reaction byproducts with water?  How is its concentration in the system measured?  How is it controlled?  Is it fed continuously or intermittently?  Does pH have any impact upon BCDMH?  Does water temperature?  What’s its chemical formula? 

Week 52:  Cobalt

• Why and how is cobalt used in industry water treatment?  What products do you use with cobalt in them?  Can cobalt ever precipitate out of solution and cause problems?  Under what conditions can this happen?  Can cobalt in a product become a foulant or degradation catalyst for an RO membrane if used? 

Week 53:  Water

(Remember, we skipped week 40.)

• Water or H2O or dihydrogen monoxide or even oxidane, the IUPAC-compliant name for water.  There are many names for water.  It has inspired art, poetry, music, architecture, comics, inventions, love, and more.  It has helped both create and destroy civilizations.  It is at the very heart of what you and I do every day as we practice the noble profession of industrial water treatment.  It is water.  How much do you know about water though?  Why is water a liquid at room temperature when other molecules of similar or even heavier molecular weights are gases?  How does its density change with temperature?  How conductive is pure water?  Is water a stable molecule or does it ever disassociate?  Have you taken out a steam table lately and looked at the trends as pressures and temperatures change?  Take this opportunity to dig in and learn more about water…drop by drop.