Overview
In Mexico, there are many “hot spots” or thermal pockets inside the earth where they drill deep into the ground. Heat from a fuel source (in geothermal’s case, the earth’s core) is used to heat water or another working fluid. The working fluid is then used to turn a turbine of a generator, thereby producing electricity.
Challenges
As steam comes out a 6” or larger pipes, the orifices were getting restricted in the pipes by calcifying with calcium and struvite. The expense of breaking down the system to clean the rock-hard substances is astronomical. The downtime was more troublesome as the geothermal steam wells are constantly moving to new locations. This cleaning usually had to be done often and replacement of capital equipment was frequent also. Scale included three types of silica and would grow one inch every 15 days.
Solution
Various SB-600s, SB-650s, SB-1400s and SB-2000s have been installed.
Installed
2001 to current.
Outcome
The scaling issues have been solved, saving the operator’s millions of dollars.
Founder and Co-Owner of Clearwater Enviro Technologies
Jeff Conway is the founder and co-owner of Clearwater Enviro Technologies, which opened in 1989 from the city it started from – Clearwater, Florida. The first product line was the Clearwater Pool Systems with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin as it’s company spokesman. In 1995, the electronic water conditioner ScaleBlaster was added to the product line. Jeff was born in Auburn, Indiana but grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is a graduate of Florida Southern College in 1978 and has resided in the Tampa Bay area ever since. Several products have evolved over the years, making the company the largest manufacturer of mineral ionization equipment and electronic water conditioners in the world.