The Whole Washer RO System with Reclaim
The whole-washer RO system with reclaim is an economical alternative to other highly automated systems for
reclaiming and recycling water used on industrial parts washers. The (Model TBS400TM) uses a new generation of
reverse osmosis membranes designed to run at low operating pressures and will reject 98% of the incoming total
dissolved solids. The system will continuously remove organic contaminant, suspended solids and colloidal particulates,
and inorganic dissolved salts from the used rinse water returned from the washer. In this manner, the washer will recycle
the rinse water which otherwise would be overflowed to drain, saving thousands of gallons of process water each day.
The correct pretreatement of the water must be used to prevent fouling of the reverse osmosis membranes and their
costly replacement. This includes softening, activated carbon filtration, particulates filtration, and ultraviolet sterilization to
prevent bacterial growth. THE SYSTEM CAN BE MODIFIED TO USE DIFFERENT SIZE AND DIAMETER STORAGE TANKS
AND LARGER OR SMALLER CAPACITY RO UNITS to match the process flow rates; however, this equipment has been
field proven to be adequately sized for typical 5-Stage and 7-Stage washers used in the POWDER COATING INDUSTRY.

Features of this system design include:

- Uses unique hydraulics and valving, and all
non-corroding materials of construction.
- Ability to reclaim 90% - 95% of the used rinse water.
- Stored water is continuously recirculated and filtered.
- Multifunction pump and valve circuit for complete
automatic control of transfer, circulate, filter & divert.
- Correct pretreatment is required to prevent costly
replacement of RO membranes, including carbon filter,
softener, and UV sterilizer		 - Reduces overflow, thereby reducing wastewater.
- Reduces dumping and recharging the chemical
stages with new chemical.
- Simple and reliable floats trigger the entire
control sequence.
- Advantages include cost savings, precise control of
washer chemistry, eliminate sludge and scale buildup,
reduce downtime of washer, and increase salt spray
hours to over 1000 hours.

Sequence of Operation:

All water to the system is softened for initial fill and all makeup water. Route all collected rinse water back to bulk storage Tank #2. Then, pump through 50 micron inline cartridge filter (for particulates removal) and inline U.V. ultraviolet sterilizer (for bacteria kill) and pumped through activated carbon filter (for chlorine & organics removal). Then pumped through Reverse Osmosis machine and the RO permeate (product) water goes back into bulk storage Tank #1. The RO concentrate (reject) water goes into bulk storage Tank #3 via flow control valves FCV-1, FCV-1A, and FCV-3 open. The purified RO product water in Tank #1 is repressurized and sent back out to the washer for re-use. This water will actually be cleaner than the original Plant Water...in the range of 10ppm TDS (total dissolved solids).

Once the operating flow rates have been established, bulk storage tank #3 will begin to fill with RO concentrate. At predictable intervals a level switch will signal to pump the entire contents of Tank #3 through the RO machine one more pass. At this time, flow control valves FCV-2 and FCV-4 are open and the RO concentrate will be routed into the final waste storage Tank #4. The TDS content in Tank #4 will be greater than 3,000 ppm and can be sent to drain or through an (optional) evaporator or other means of disposal. The volume of wastewater to be
disposed is dictated by the actual operating flow rates of the RO reclaim loop.		 The sump pit can be manually pumped down to empty, prior to dumping the chemical stages of the washer. The chemical stages can now be isolated into either Tank #2 or Tank #4 using the manual isolation valves. A flow sensor is installed in the reclaim loop piping and will display instantaneous flow rate, average daily gallons, and totalized gallons of the reclaimed water. This information is useful to operators and correlates to actual RO product water used by the washer. The RO machines have a product water flow meter, a reject water flow meter, and a recycle flow meter and these flows are adjustable using the reject control valve and the adjustable recycle valve on the RO machine. The stored water in Tank #1 and Tank #2 is continuously
recirculated through a PVC flow controller to keep water moving approx. 2-3 feet / second within the tank. Also, several pressure gauges and sample valve ports are included to monitor the system
performance. The UV lamps and the carbon filter media must be replaced annually, and the RO membranes can be replaced in less than 1 hour of time, should RO flow rate decline by more than 15% - 20%.