Industrial Water Softening

Water flow from 0,125 to 20 m3/h
Resin capacity from 25 to 550 litres

Babcock Wanson provides a wide variety of water softening equipment for process industry. With more than 60 years of experience, Babcock Wanson has installed thousands of water softeners and associated equipment, with a particular focus on providing treated water for steam boilers.

Water Softening is the process of removing Calcium (Ca+), Magnesium (Mg+), and other metal cations from raw water. These dissolved elements in the water need to be treated before it enters process equipment such as Steam Boilers and closed circuits (heat exchangers, pipes and fittings) because the less soluble compounds precipitate with heat, building up scales or deposits that can affect heat transfer leading to inefficiency and overheating of exchange surfaces or circuit failures.

Industrial Water Softening Equipment

Water Softening Equipment from Babcock Wanson is based on the Ion Exchange process, exchanging the above mentioned cations with more soluble compounds based on Sodium (Na+), and is carried out within a resin filled pressure vessel. Charging the resin with brine (NaCl), loads the resin with Na+ cations and which are then exchanged with the Ca+ and Mg+ cations. Once the reserve of Na+ cations is exhausted a regeneration process is required to reload the resin.

Babcock Wanson offers a wide range of softener sizes to suit small or medium size boilers. The softeners are designed to operate in a diverse range of industries; food safe resins can be provided for direct use soft water in the food and beverage industry.

Reduced Operational Costs

For large capacity water softeners, Babcock Wanson provides counter-current regeneration and a ‘blocked’ resin bed (blocking simply prevents fluidisation of the resin bed).

Counter-current regeneration uses a low-salt dose and thereby achieves a 30 to 40% reduction in salt consumption and a greater than 50% reduction in service water consumption. Although the implementation of this technology requires a more sophisticated installation in terms of construction and operation which results in a higher capital cost, compared to a conventional regeneration system, the return on investment is attractive due to the savings in salt and water consumption.

High Efficiency

Experience with the specific requirements of boiler house water treatment means that Babcock Wanson understands the requirement for softening equipment quality, robustness and reliability. The PLC and Operator HMI screen provided with the largest capacity softeners ensures high flexibility, minimal maintenance and straightforward monitoring.

Ease of Operation

For larger systems, where a local operator maintained brine tank is considered insufficient and to reduce the operating constraints related to salt regenerating cost and its implementation, Babcock Wanson Water Softeners are often accompanied by a Brine Saturator System which delivers brine prepared from fine salt delivered in bulk from a large storage vessel often located remotely from the softener. The regeneration process can be managed in a volumetric (Meter) or chronometric (Timer) method based on the treated water volume. Maintenance and After Sales Service of the softener and associated equipment is provided by Babcock Wanson’s international network and local service engineers.

Full Range of Equipment

  • Water flow from 1 to 20 m3/h
  • Simplex or Duplex configuration, with the possibility to upgrade the configuration to suit customers’ changing needs
  • Equipped with bronze or “Noryl” valves to ensure the compatibility with all industries applications
  • The scope of supply includes a suitable brine tank