It’s amazing how quickly two months can pass, but time flies when you’re editing fascinating content from leaders in the industrial water and wastewater industry. And I’m excited to share that content with all of you.
Our cover story focuses on the outlook of the year to come, with an examination of market trends from Cullen Mitchell, an analyst with Bluefield Research. He notes that while opportunities for growth will vary by industry, Bluefield analysts see bright spots in the future.
“There is no one answer to sizing the impacts across the 18 industry verticals and almost 40 countries recently forecasted by Bluefield,” Mitchell writes. “Certainly, the virus and associated quarantines will continue to shape the recovery curve, but the makeup of local industrial economies is also critical, whether they be manufacturing centers, commodity markets, or those that are aimless in their COVID management.”
On page 10, Nik Siwek with ABB discusses the importance of pH measurement. Siwek writes, “Although commonly associated with the water treatment industry, pH measurement in fact plays a vital role across a vast range of industries. In the food industry for example, it can influence a product’s taste and preservation characteristics. In other sectors such as textiles, pulp and paper manufacturing and agriculture, pH measurement can also play a key role.”
On page 14, a group of experts with Saudi Aramco detail a pilot study in which treated sewage effluent was used as cooling tower makeup water. They found that “application of the TSE could save a significant amount of water, energy, and operating costs for cooling tower operations. The increase in cycle of concentration resulted in a 27% reduction in water demand from current groundwater baseline.”
Also in this issue, Trever Ball with Emerson explains the best practices for building and calibrating a cooling water setup. He writes, “Measurements of cooling water are generally considered non-critical, but they can have a significant impact on the efficiency of a heat exchanger, which can result in poor process temperature control, potentially resulting in quality or yield issues.”
Our case study on page 30 looks at how a power cutter allowed one company to slash the hours used for oil pipeline repair jobs — from two days to two and a half hours. The spark-reducing cutter also made the work safer for staff.
As always, we have collected an assortment of new products for your consideration, as well as two product spotlights focusing on filtration equipment and sludge dewatering solutions.
Thanks to all the contributors and companies that provided material for this issue, and thanks so much to our readers! I hope all of you have a wonderful new year. WT
