Everything You Need to Know About Chemical Feeds
Chemical feeds are used for wastewater treatment plants, chemical facilities, and other industrial sites requiring chemical injections to clean or purify water.
Chemical feeds are most often used in these industries because of the pollutants that continually flow through them. Without chemical feeds, some wastewater would be unusable and, as a result, go to waste.
But how do chemical feeds work?
What kinds of chemicals go into the chemical feed pumps?
What parts go with the pump?
What types of chemical feed systems are out there?
And what are the symptoms components?
We’re answering these questions and more in today’s blog. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about chemical feeds.
What Is A Chemical Feed System?
Chemical feeds work by automatically injecting chemicals into the water that needs treatment. Chemical feeds are designed to inject the same chemical dosage every time to properly cleanse the water. Most water treatment programs that run smoothly utilize some kind of chemical feed.
Without chemical feeds, the wastewater won’t be well-regulated, costing you more in the long run. You’ll have overfeeding problems and have some water that’s fine, but other batches of water that are unusable. Your equipment will more easily corrode, thus requiring maintenance or replacement. It will simply be unreliable.
Simply put, a chemical feed system is essential to a well-engineered, optimally-functioning feed system.
What Are Chemical Feed Systems Used For?
Chemical feed systems are used for the following kinds of water treatment:
Disinfection
Flocculation and Coagulation
Nutrient Removal
Sludge Conditioning
Odor Control
Alkalinity Supplementation
Corrosion Inhibition
Types of Chemicals Used
You can use dry, liquid, or gaseous chemicals in a chemical feed pump.
Dry chemicals come in dry, powdered form. Examples include sodium bicarbonate, calcium hypochlorite, calcium chloride, algaecides, and soda ash.
Liquid chemicals are popular because they’re easy to use. Many chemical feeds use aluminum sulfate (liquid alum), 50% sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda.
Gaseous chemicals are used for algae, sludge bulking, disinfection, slime, and odor control. Chlorine is a gaseous chemical.
Basic Chemical Feed Pump Parts
There are standard parts that go with every chemical feed pump, regardless of what it’s for or where it’s used.
The chemical feed pump is made of plastic resistant to chemicals, stainless steel, or rubber.
The tank or container holds the chemical that will be dosed into the system.
The injector is a one-way valve that the chemical goes through as it is released into the water.
The dosing line is made of hose, plastic, or steel. Steel is required for hot water, steam, and high-pressure use.
The foot valve keeps the pump primed and can be used to alert the operator when there are low fluid levels. It goes in the product drum and is connected to the suction line.
Finally, the control system controls when the pump is on or off and meters dosages.
You can also purchase accessories for your chemical feed, such as mixers, timers, alarms, injection nozzles, and level gauges.
Types of Chemical Feed Systems
There are five different chemical feed systems, three for dry chemicals and two for liquid chemicals.
Liquid Chemicals
For liquid chemicals, you can use a continuous feed or a shot feed. As the name “continuous feed” suggests, the chemicals are continually fed into the water. The constant feed is used for once-through systems and water chlorination. For shot feed systems, a feeder pump with an on-off control is used to shoot chemicals into the water whenever the pump is “on.”
Dry Chemicals
For dry chemicals, you can use a solution feed or a direct feed. The solution feed is used in vacuum feeders that vacuum the gas into the pipes. The direct feed works by feeding gas into the flow stream. This high-pressure treatment with direct gas is rarely used to regulate a water supply.
In some cases, manual feeds are used. This process is slower and longer; you must know the rate and batch strength to ensure adequate dosage.
Storing Your Chemicals
There are three ways you can deliver and store the treatment chemicals that will go into the feed. Your options are bulk, semi bulk, and drums. How much you’ll use and how much you’ll need on hand, along with safety requirements and shipping regulations, will determine how you store your chemicals.
Bulk storage is ideal if you need a lot of chemical supplies to keep things running. Your chemicals will live in a large tank that your water treatment company provides.
Semi bulk storage is ideal if you need a sufficient supply, but you don’t require a tank’s worth of chemicals. Your water treatment company will provide you with reusable shuttle tanks that you can stack on top of each other.
Drum storage isn’t as popular as bulk or semi-bulk storage because you can’t reuse them, and there are restrictions for disposing of them, but drum storage is ideal if you only need 40 to 55 gallons worth of chemical storage.
Delivery Systems
Your delivery system is how you get your chemicals into the water they’re treating. There are different options for liquid vs. dry vs. gaseous chemicals.
Liquid chemicals can be pumped into the water using a diaphragm, peristaltic, packed plunger, or jet pumps. Dry chemicals use volumetric or gravimetric feeders.
Gaseous chemicals use gas feeders. To remain safe while utilizing this process, you’ll need self-contained breathing equipment, special containment chlorine rooms, chlorine gas detectors, and chlorine air room scrubbers, among other supplies. Gaseous chemicals are rarely used nowadays since chlorine is a real gas.
Get Your Chemical Feed Pump from J.Mark Systems.
Are you looking into chemical feeds for your industrial water supply? If so, J.Mark Systems has you covered. We provide reagent chemical bulk feed systems that are safer to use, save you money, and are more convenient than traditional tote and drum provisioning.
Our bulk feeds are double-walled with mechanical level monitors that prevent your tank from overflowing and come with a leak detection system and automated pump control, among other components.
You can trust our decades of experience when it comes to chemical feeds. We’ll ensure you get exactly what you need to treat your industrial water supply. Contact us today to learn more!