WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol.

I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

INDUSTRIAL WATER
Yasumoto Magara
Professor of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Keywords: circulated use, concentration rate, cooling water, resistivity, ultra-pure

water.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Industrial water consumption
3. Cooling water
3.1. Water quality management of cooling water
3.1.1 pH

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3.1.2 Electrolytic conductivity

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3.1.3 Chloride ion
3.1.4 Sulfuric acid
3.1.5 Methyl-red alkalinity (acid consumption)
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3.1.6 Hardness
3.1.7 Silicate ion
3.1.8 Free carbonate
3.1.9 Iron and manganese
3.1.10 Ammonium ion
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3.1.11 Potassium permanganate consumption value

3.1.12 Turbidity
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3.1.13 Langelier index

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3.2. Water treatment of cooling water

3.2.1 Scale and corrosion control
3.2.2 Slime prevention
4. Ultra-pure water
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4.1. What is ultra-pure water?

4.2. Integration level of LSI and trend of quality of ultra-pure water
4.3. Recent ultra-pure water
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4.4. Processing method of ultra-pure water

4.4.1 Pre-processing system
4.4.2 Primary pure water processing system
4.4.3 Secondary pure water processing system (sub system)
5. Circulated use of water in main industries
5.1. Basic principle of circulated use
5.1.1 Indirect use and direct use
5.1.2 Principle of water circulation
5.1.3 Setting and control of quality of water
5.2. Examples of circulated use
5.2.1 Steel mill
5.2.2 Thermal electric power plant
5.2.3 Paper mill
5.2.4 Drinking water production plant

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

Glossary
Bibliography
Biographical Sketch

Summary

Many industries use water for their production, and this water often requires particular
properties such as solubility, transportation potential, or heat exchanging potential.
Water in industries is consumed for boiler make-up, processing, product treatment and
cleaning, cooling, etc.

The quantity of water consumption differs between the types of industries. The steel,
chemical, and pulp and paper industries are major users of large quantities of water per
unit price of products because they use fresh water for cooling, cleaning and product
processing.

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Cooling water comprise the majority of the consumption of industrial water. Due to the
huge water consumption in each plant, cooling water is generally reused in order to save
the acquisition cost and the water resource. The cooling water reuse may result in
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impairment by scale, slime, or corrosion caused by the concentration of soluble salts
inside the circulation systems due to the evaporation or emission of cooling water.
Therefore, the quality control of cooling water is the most important factor in the
operation of cooling water systems. There are two ways to control cooling water quality,
i.e. the treatment of make-up water and the treatment for circulated cooling water. In
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order to improve the quality of circulated cooling water, pH control and corrosion
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inhibiters are applied. In addition, circulated water is partially discharged to prevent

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excessive concentration of soluble salts.

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“Ultra-pure water” is the result of currently available technologies which remove the
impurities as much as possible to approach theoretical H2O. Ultra-pure water removes
those impurities such as suspended solid components, dissolved gas components, and
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microbes as much as possible with state-of-art technologies. Therefore, ultra-pure water

cannot be defined chemically but it is a general term that has a certain range of the
quality. LSI manufacturing processes require ultra-pure water with very high quality for
cleaning not to cause contamination to silicon wafers or computer chips from water.
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Industrial water consumption affects the production cost as well as the conservation of
limited water resources; therefore, many industrial installations make efforts to reduce
their water consumption by introducing in-factory water recycling systems in
combination with wastewater treatment systems. The circulated use of water is usually
applied to indirect systems, which are easily maintained due to absence of pollution in
the systems. In the circulated use of water, soluble salts are concentrated in the system
as evaporation proceeds. Thus, the quality of water should be controlled to avoid
corrosion, deposition of scale, or generation of slime.

1. Introduction

Many industries use water for their production, and this water often requires particular

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

properties of water such as solubility, transportation potential, or heat exchanging

potential. Water in industries is consumed for boiler make-up, processing, product
treatment and cleaning, cooling, etc.

Boilers are used to produce hot water, steam, or hyper-thermal water. The required
water quality is usually different for each purpose since many types of boilers are used
for generating electricity, heating processes or products, providing steam or hot water,
etc. Generally speaking, the boiler water must be at least non-corrosive and non-scale
forming in the boiler and in the heat exchange piping, or power generating system.

Processing water is used as a raw material or additive in brewery, ice making, beverages,
food processing, synthetic fiber processing, and dissociation bath application. The
purpose of processing water thus differs between these and the quality must comply
with the requirements. The processing water, especially in food related factories, must
be clean and pathogen free.

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Water for product treatment and cleaning is used for physical processes such as cleaning,
swelling, or dissolving raw material, intermediate products and final products. The
quality and quantity of water for product treatment and cleaning vary owing to
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manufacturing process and final product. The quality level required for chemical, food,
textile and pulp/paper industry is high. Semiconductor processing water, in particular,
requires the highest quality of water, so called ‘ultra-pure water’, because silicon wafers
or computer chips need sub-micron precision and no contaminants, regardless of
particulate or dissolved forms, are allowed on the surface. Previously, semiconductor
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factories used organic solvents to clean the products, but this caused serious soil and
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groundwater contaminations. Ultra-pure water works as the optimal cleaning agent with
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no contamination or hazard to humans or the environment.

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Industrial water consumption affects the production cost as well as the conservation of
limited water resources, so many industrial installations make efforts to reduce their
water consumption by introducing in-factory water recycling systems in combination
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with wastewater treatment systems.

2. Industrial water consumption

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The quantity of water consumption differs between the types of industries. In order to
evaluate water consumption many industries use unit consumption, i.e. the quantity of
water needed to produce a product in monetary term, e.g. m3 day-1 to produce one
hundred million yen (or one million US$) of industrial product per year. Figure 1 shows
the trends of unit consumption in Japan. The average quantity of water consumption is
almost steady at 50 m3 day-1 (100 mil. yen year-1)-1 in total. However, there is a big
difference between the type of industries, which depends on the purpose of water
utilization. The steel, chemicals, and pulp and paper industries are major industries
which uses a large quantity of water per unit price of products because they use fresh
water for cooling, cleaning and product processing.

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

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Figure 1. Unit consumption of industrial water in various industries

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There is wide difference in unit consumption of water between the types of industry. No
clear trend has been observed in these values in the last ten years or so. The total
consumption of industrial water increased from 17.9 billion m3 year-1 in 1965 to 54.1
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billion m3 year-1 in 1995, as shown in Figure 2.

The source of industrial water is classified into recycled water and make-up water.
Recycled water is used repeatedly with or without water treatment in the factory, and
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make-up water means fresh water either supplied by public water supply sector or
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treated by the factory itself. As shown in Figure 2, significant amounts of water are
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recycled year by year. On the other hand, make-up water is almost constant in these
years.
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There are two major reasons for increasing the recycling rate. Firstly, the exploitation of
new water sources, either surface water or groundwater, has become more and more
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difficult from the viewpoint of water resource conservation and environmental

protection.

Increasing the water resource for industry means constructing new facilities such as a
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reservoir, for more effective utilization of run-off water during heavy rain, because
surface water resources in Japan, as in other countries, are fully utilized by traditional
and conventional irrigation and public water supply. The development of water resource
has been increasingly difficult due to reduced opportunities to acquire appropriate dam
sites and high costs of compensation to local residents.

The unit development cost for dams in Japan ranges from 10 to 30 yen m-3. If industrial
water is acquired from a reservoir, there will be additional cost for transportation,
treatment, and distribution facilities, so newly developed industrial water will cost 50 to
200 yen m-3. Although industrial water is essential for their activities, a limitation is
imposed by the additional cost on the price of products.

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

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Figure 2. Consumption and recycle rate of industrial water in Japan

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Groundwater is the most attractive alternative for industrial water because it only needs
a well, a pumping facility and, if necessary, a treatment plant in the factory.
Groundwater exploitation has, therefore, been implemented by many industries, but soil
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subsidence has often occurred as a result of over-exploitation of groundwater.
Groundwater has been extracted at a rate much higher than the natural recharge to the
aquifer. Soil subsidence has worsened in many urban and industrial areas and caused
adverse effects on buildings, roads, bridges and other structures. The use of
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groundwater for industrial purposes has, therefore, been restricted by the soil subsidence
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prevention law. As a result, many factories have to reduce their consumption of fresh
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water and enhance the reuse of wastewater after appropriate treatment.

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Another reason to enforce water reuse is the national regulation regarding wastewater
discharge to ambient water environment by total mass pollutants. In order to protect
water bodies from pollution, wastewater discharge from industries is regulated by very
stringent law. Many industries have consequently reduced their fresh water
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consumption and increased wastewater reuse in the factories.

As shown in Figure 2, the recycling rate of industrial water to total consumption of

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industrial water increased from 36% in 1965 to 77% in 1995. Table 1 shows the
consumption of recycled water and make-up water (fresh water) by industry and the
recycling rate of the industrial water.

Many different industries use recycled water, but they have some common applications,
i.e. product treatment and cleaning, cooling water, boiler and temperature control. Table
2 shows the consumption of industrial water and the recycling rate in each purpose.
Cooling water is largely consumed in every industry so that more efficient use has been
devised. As a result, the recycling rate is high. Almost 90% of water is repeatedly used.

Industry Make-up Recycled Total Recycling

water water [1000m3 rate
[1000m3 day-1] [1000m3 day-1] day-1] [%]
Food 3,434 1,607 5,041 31.9

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

Textile 1,786 383 2,169 17.7

Pulp & paper 8,491 6,747 15,238 44.3
Chemicals 8,506 41,516 50,022 83.0
Oil & coal products 8,74 7442 8,316 89.5
Ceramics & soil/stones 9,98 2483 3,481 71.3
Steel 3,744 34,450 38,194 90.2
Nonferrous metals 733 2,453 3,186 77.0
Metal products 545 498 1,043 47.7
General machinery 544 828 1,372 60.3
Electrical machinery 1,586 4,207 5,793 72.6
Transportation 820 9,589 10,409 92.1
machinery
Others 1,635 3,044 4,679 65.1
Total 33,696 115,247 148,943 77.4

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Table 1. Consumption of make-up water and recycled water by industry (1996)

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Product treatment Cooling Temperature
Boiler Others
and cleaning water control
% of total
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17 72 1 6 4
consumption
Recycling rate
70 89 34 86 36
(%)
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Table 2. Water consumption and recycling rate

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3. Cooling water
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3.1. Water quality management of cooling water

Cooling water comprises the largest part of the consumption of industrial water. Due to
the huge water consumption in each plant, cooling water is generally reused in order to
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save the acquisition cost and the water resource. The cooling water reuse may result in
impairment by scale, slime, or corrosion caused by the concentration of soluble salts
inside the circulation systems, due to evaporation or emission of cooling water.
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Therefore, quality control of cooling water is a very important factor in the operation of
cooling water systems.

The quality standards of cooling water are shown in Table 3. Circulated water is the
water that is repeatedly used in cooling water systems. The quality of circulated water
should be monitored and controlled since it is in direct contact with cooling equipment
and piping. Make-up water is the water that is added to circulation systems to
compensate for water loss due to evaporation, emission, or blow down. Concentration
ratio is the ratio of the quality of circulated water to that of make-up water as shown in
equation (1).

Quality of circulated water

Concentration ratio= ---------------------------------- (1)
Quality of make-up water

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WATER QUALITY AND STANDARDS – Vol. I - Industrial Water - Yasumoto Magara

The standards in Table 3 assume a common concentration ratio of 2 to 5 in cooling

water systems.

Cooling water Consideration

Item Circulated Make-up Scale
Corrosion
water water generation
pH 6.5 - 8.2 6.0 - 8.0 X X
Electrolytic
conductivity [mS 80 or less 30 or less X X
m-1]
Chlorine ion
200 or less 50 or less X
[mgCl L-1]
Sulfuric ion
200 or less 50 or less X
[mgSO4 L-1]
Standards
M alkalinity
100 or less 50 or less X
[mgCaCO3 L-1]

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Total hardness
200 or less 70 or less X

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[mgCaCO3 L-1]
Calcium hardness
150 or less 50 or less X
[mgCaCO3 L-1]
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Ionized silica
50 or less 30 or less X
[mgSiO2 L-1]
Iron [mgFe L-1] 1.0 or less 0.3 or less X X
Copper [mgCu L-
1 0.3 or less 0.1 or less X
]
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Sulfuric Under Under

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components detection detection X

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[mgSO4 L-1] limit limit

References Ammonium ion
1.0 or less 0.1 or less X
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[mgNH4 L-1]
Residue chlorine
0.3 or less 0.3 or less X
[mgCl L-1]
Free-radical
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carbonate 4.0 or less 4.0 or less X

[mgC L-1]
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“StandardS” refers to critical parameters which directly affect the performance of

facilities. “References” are recommended values to avoid nuisance by algal growth or
water-borne diseases such as legionaire’s disease.

Table 3. Quality standards of cooling water

3.1.1 pH

The metal parts used in cooling water systems may suffer from corrosion at lower pH
value, while the system will have deposition of scale due to calcium (Ca), magnesium
(Mg) and silica (SiO2) at higher pH value. Thus, the pH value of cooling water should
be controlled in a range of 6 to 8. However, the corrosion properties cannot be evaluated
by pH values only—the other qualities described below should also be considered.

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3.1.2 Electrolytic conductivity

Electrolytic conductivity shows the total amount of soluble salts in water. Soluble salts
are a factor of impairment such as corrosion and scale deposition as described above.
Water with high electrolytic conductivity is likely to cause such impairment. Make-up
water with low electrolytic conductivity increases the concentration ratio of circulated
cooling water system and reduces the loss of water because the quality of make-up
water is inversely proportional to concentration ratio. The electrolytic conductivity and
pH value are easily measured, and thus readily used in routine quality control.

3.1.3 Chloride ion

Chloride ion is an important factor of corrosion. Use of well water or seawater with high
concentration of chloride ion, results in corrosion to piping or equipment. Electricity
generation plants, which use seawater for cooling are often equipped with anti corrosion

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piping and equipment.

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3.1.4 Sulfuric acid
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Sulfuric acid as well as chloride ion causes corrosion. Water with a high concentration
of sulfuric acid is not suitable for cooling water. In general, the concentration of sulfate
ion is lower than that of chloride ion. If water contains a high concentration of sulfate
ion, the water must be aerated to strip sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) to the air.
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3.1.5 Methyl-red alkalinity (acid consumption)

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Methyl-red alkalinity is a value that indicates concentration of bicarbonate ion (HCO3),

which, in combination with hardness components such as calcium, could cause
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impairment by generating calcium carbonate scale.

3.1.6 Hardness
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Harness is the sum of calcium and magnesium, which is a component of scale in

combination with pH and methyl-red alkalinity. The scale is deposited on the heat
exchange conductors in cooling equipment, and thus, causes impairment such as
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reduced heat conductivity.

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Bibliography

Béchaux J. (1979). Water Treatment Handbook, fifth edition. Degrémont, Rueil-Malmaison, France. 1186
pp. [Part I of this book is a general survey of water and its action on the materials with which it comes
into contact. Part II describes the processes and the treatment plant. Part III covers treatment of various
kind of water according to type and ultimate use. And part IV deals with the chemistry of water and
reagents used in water treatment, methods of analysis, and the biology of water.]
Walters J. K. and Wint A. (1981). Industrial Effluent Treatment, Volume 1, Water and Solid Waste.
Applied Science Publishers Ltd., London, UK. 351 pp. [This volume is based on lectures given during a
series of one week courses held by the Department of Chemical Engineering in the University of
Nottingham concerning pollution control for engineers and scientists in positions of responsibility for
environmental matters in industry and commerce.]

Biographical Sketch

Yasumoto Magara is Professor of Engineering at Hokkaido University, where he has been on faculty
since 1997. He was admitted to Hokkaido University in 1960 and received a degree of Bachelor of

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Engineering in Sanitary Engineering in 1964 and Master of Engineering in 1966. After working for the
same university for four years, he moved to the National Institute of Public Health in 1970. He served as

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the Director of the Institute. From 1984 he worked for the Department of Sanitary Engineering, then the
Department of Water Supply Engineering. He obtained a Ph.D. in Engineering from Hokkaido University
in 1979 and was conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Engineering from Chiangmai University in
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1994. Since 1964, his research subjects have been in environmental engineering and have included
advanced water purification for drinking water, control of hazardous chemicals in drinking water,
planning and treatment of domestic waste including human excreta, management of ambient water quality,
and mechanisms of biological wastewater treatment system performance. He has also been a member of
governmental deliberation councils of several ministries and agencies including Ministry of Health and
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Welfare, Ministry of Education, Environmental Agency, and National Land Agency. He performs
international activities with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and World Health
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Organization. As for academic fields, he plays a pivotal role in many associations and societies, and has
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been Chairman of Japan Society on Water Environment.

Professor Magara has written and edited books on analysis and assessment of drinking water. He has been
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the author or co-author of more than 100 research articles.

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