Data Center
Ashburn, VA
CHALLENGE
A data center in Ashburn, Virginia, was experiencing consistently high approach temperatures on the evaporator side of nine chillers. The existing water treatment vendor could not determine the root cause or correct the waterside issues. The customer turned to Boland’s Water Technologies team to investigate the problem and propose a solution.
Boland’s Water Technologies technicians collected water samples from different areas of the 800,000-gallon chilled loop system. The lab analysis revealed aggressive levels of iron-reducing bacteria (IRB), denitrifying bacteria, and slime-forming bacteria in the form of Pseudomonas – which adhere to the walls of piping systems and inside filters (see Table 1.0).
SOLUTION
Based on the lab results, Boland’s Water Technologies team concluded that a diverse bio population was the primary cause of the high evaporator approach temperatures. Slime-forming bacteria can be up to 4 times as insulating as calcium scale, so Boland’s Water Technologies team executed a shock treatment using the following combination of chemicals:
150ppm of non-oxidizing Biocide to kill off most of the bacteria
100ppm of proprietary Bio-Dispersant to remove the slime layer
These chemicals were pumped in quickly all at once to overwhelm the bacteria.
RESULTS
One week after treatment, Boland’s Water Technologies technicians collected a final round of samples. The bacteria levels decreased significantly, leading to an immediate improvement in evaporator efficiencies (see Table 2.0).
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