Treatment of industrial water systems

Abstract

A method for controlling treatment of an industrial water system is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing an apparatus for controlling delivery of at least one treatment chemical, the apparatus comprising at least one sensor and an electronic input/output device carrying out a protocol; measuring a parameter of the industrial water system using the at least one sensor; relaying the measured parameter to the electronic device; adjusting the protocol based on the measured parameter; delivering a concentrated treatment chemical into a stream of the industrial water system according to the adjusted protocol, the concentrated treatment chemical comprising an active ingredient, the active ingredient traced as necessary, the active ingredient having a concentration; repeating the measuring, the adjusting, and the delivering; and optionally repeating the steps for n-number of parameters, n-number of active ingredients, and/or n-number of concentrated treatment chemicals.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for controlling treatment of an industrial water system, the method comprising the following steps:
 providing an apparatus for controlling delivery of at least one treatment chemical, the apparatus comprising at least one sensor and an electronic input/output device carrying out a protocol;   measuring a parameter of the industrial water system using the at least one sensor;   relaying the measured parameter to the electronic device;   adjusting the protocol based on the measured parameter;   delivering a concentrated treatment chemical into a stream of the industrial water system according to the adjusted protocol, the concentrated treatment chemical comprising an active ingredient, the active ingredient traced as necessary, the active ingredient having a concentration;   repeating the measuring, the adjusting, and the delivering; and   optionally repeating the steps for n-number of parameters, n-number of active ingredients, and/or n-number of concentrated treatment chemicals.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the industrial water system is selected from the group consisting of: a cooling tower water system; a petroleum well, a downhole formation, a geothermal well, and any other oil field application; a boiler system; a hot water system;
 mineral process waters comprising mineral washing, flotation and benefaction; a papermaking process; a black liquor evaporator; a gas scrubber; an air washer; a continuous casting process; an air conditioning system; a refrigeration system; a pasteurization process; a water reclamation system; a water purification system; a membrane filtration water system; a food processing stream; and a wastewater treatment system.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of: a fluorometric sensor; a spectrofluorometric sensor; an optical absorption spectroscopic sensor; an optical Raman spectroscopic sensor; a corrosion sensor; a conductivity sensor; a pH sensor; a temperature sensor; a weight sensor; a flow sensor; a load cell; a level detector; a turbidity sensor; an electrical sensor; an electrochemical sensor; an acoustic sensor; multiples thereof; combinations thereof; and multiples and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is selected from the group consisting of: a corrosion rate; a scaling rate; a deposition rate; a heat transfer rate; a cooling tower efficiency; a chemical concentration; a cycle of concentration; a suspended solids measurement; a dissolved solids measurement; a microbiological activity rate; a chemical activity rate; a process performance parameter; a product performance parameter; multiples thereof; combinations thereof; and multiples and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises automatically diluting the concentrated treatment chemical prior to the delivering. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the automatically diluting occurs in-stream en route to the delivering. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated treatment chemical is delivered as a solid. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated treatment chemical is delivered as a liquid. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated treatment chemical comprises at least two active ingredients. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the concentrated treatment chemical is further comprised of a dye, the active ingredient traced with the dye. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active ingredient is a polymer tagged with a fluorescent moiety. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active ingredient is inherently fluorescent. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises a modular delivery system. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the protocol comprises an algorithm based on calculations selected from the group consisting of: a first principle; an empirical observation; multiples thereof combinations thereof and multiples and combinations thereof.