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| RJ Environmental Products scrubber at testing facility. |
When Chicago, host city of the 1999 AWWA Conference, decided to upgrade the emergency vapour scrubbing system for the world's largest water treatment plant, USFilter was selected to provide the systems.
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| RJ Environmental Products scrubber at testing facility. |
The James W. Jardine Water Purification Plant is capable of producing more than a billion (US) gallons per day of water for the City of Chicago and outlying areas. The plant is located downtown on Lake Michigan and is only a few hundred yards from Navy Pier, a major tourist destination.
Chlorine, utilized as a disinfectant, is received and stored in liquid form in one-ton containers.
As part of a new environmental control system serving the chemical storage and handling areas, the City has installed four emergency vapour scrubber systems supplied by USFilter's RJ Environmental Products group.
From initial concept through final design, RJ Environmental Products has provided technical support to the project engineers, Alvord, Burdick & Howson L.L.C., and their subconsultant, Facilities Consultants Ltd.
The new ventilation system includes four emergency scrubbers, one for hydrofluorosilic acid storage and three for chlorine handling and storage. The largest system is rated at 38,000 cubic feet per minute (1,076 m3/min) and serves the chlorine battery room where the majority of the chlorine is stored and used.
The design of the three standard size scrubbers has been proven by full scale testing at a C.A.B.O. certified independent testing facility. But the 38,000 cfm system required for the large storage area had never before been built or proven.
After award of the contract, the 38,000 cfm system was manufactured and shipped to Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, the largest independent laboratory in the US. The scrubber was installed at the test site and a special building was erected to conduct full-scale testing to simulate a one ton chlorine cylinder release during a worst case scenario an over-temperature fusible plug failure.
After complete installation and preliminary tests, one ton of chlorine was pressurized to 300 psig (20.7 BAR) and released into a flash room and evacuated through the scrubber.
The testing was witnessed by the City of Chicago; Alvord, Burdick & Howson; Greeley & Hansen; and Scott Company Mechanical Contractors. Under all conditions, including a 300 pound per minute (136 kg/min) release of chlorine, all scrubber exhaust measurements were less than 1 ppm five times less than required by the Uniform Fire Code.
The equipment has now been installed. The Jardine Water Filtration Plant was on the AWWA tour schedule June 22.