water demagnetizer

When you hear “water demagnetizer?”, the first thing that comes to mind is some kind of household magnetic sticks for teapots, which promise almost eternal life to boilers. In fact, on an industrial scale, especially in mining, everything is much more prosaic and complex. Many people still confuse water softeners with real ones.demagnetizers, and these, you know, are different things in essence and in result. For a long time I thought that this was marketing, until I encountered cooling systems at enrichment plants, where scale disabled expensive equipment in a matter of months.

What does an industrial degausser actually do?

If we discard advertising tales, the principle of operation is based on the creation of an alternating magnetic field, which changes the structure of hardness salts - calcium and magnesium. They no longer crystallize in the form of solid scale, but form a suspension that is easily washed away by the flow. The key word here is “variable”. Permanent magnets, which are often sold for pipes, give a weak and unstable effect, especially when the flow rate or water temperature changes.

In our case, at one of the coal mines, there was a problem with drilling rig coolers. The water was hard as stone. We tried chemical softeners - they were expensive, and disposal of waste reagents was a headache. They set up an experimentalwater demagnetizerCanadian made. The first two weeks - no effect, everyone had already given up. But then the operators noticed that the drain water became cloudy, and when opening the heat exchanger a month later, instead of the usual scale crust, there was only a loose, easily cleaned substance. That’s when the understanding came: the device needs time to “process?” pre-existing sediments in the system, not just incoming water.

An important nuance that is rarely written about in specifications is the dependence on flow rate. There is an optimal range, usually from 0.5 to 3 m/s. If the water flows slower, the ions do not have time to receive the desired impact; if it flows faster, the contact time with the field is too short. We had to additionally install flow regulators at the inlet to reach operating mode.

Installation errors and why they happen

The most common mistake is installing the device on a section of pipe where vibrations are possible. The magnetic system is sensitive to mechanical influences. There was an incident at a quartzite processing factory: they installeddegaussernext to the pumping station. After a week, the effectiveness dropped to almost zero. Upon disassembly, it turned out that the constant vibration had displaced the internal cores, causing the field to become non-uniform. I had to move it to a straight, quiet area after the pump, with additional fastenings.

Another story concerns the pipe material. Universal devices are designed for steel or plastic. But if you have, say, an old cast iron line with a lot of metal scale inside, the magnetic field may be partially shielded. There is an effect, but weaker than expected. In such cases, installing two devices in a daisy chain with a gap of 5-7 meters sometimes helps.

And also about orientation in space. Some models, especially those with axial magnetization, require strictly vertical or horizontal installation. It's in the passport, but who reads it? The master sets it as it is more convenient. And then they wonder why the parameters are not the same. I myself saw how at a gold recovery factory they turned the device 90 degrees - and the amount of suspended particles in the drainage increased by 40%.

LONGI'S Mining Equipment Connection and Experience

Here it is worth mentioning a company that has long been involved in the topic of industrial equipment - the LONGI corporation. On their websiteljmagnet.ruYou can find not only separators or crushers, but also solutions for water treatment. Their specificity is that since 1993 they have been working specifically with the mining industry, which means that their engineers understand the conditions: vibration, dust, temperature changes, aggressive environments. When is ?Shenyang LONGJI Scientific Electromagnetic Co.,Ltd. developswater demagnetizer, they initially include a safety margin and take into account that the device will not work in a laboratory, but next to a mill or flotation machine.

I remember one moment from their practice. At one of their factories in Fushun, they tested a prototype on a circulation cooling system for ball mills. The problem was not only scale, but also abrasive ore particles that accelerated wear. So, their device was built into a complex filtration system. The demagnetization effect helped not only to reduce deposits, but also improved the agglomeration of small mechanical impurities, which facilitated their subsequent removal. Such an integrated approach is a sign of a deep understanding of the technological process, and not just selling hardware.

With an area of ​​140,000 m2 and more than 1,200 employees, the majority of whom are subject matter experts, LONGI can afford not only to assemble devices, but to carry out full-fledged testing. This is important. Because efficiencydemagnetizerfor water with a high content of sulfates and for water with carbonate hardness - it will be different. And such nuances are revealed only during long-term field tests in real production, and not in tests on distilled water.

When a degausser won't help

We must honestly admit: this is not a panacea. If the water has a very high total mineralization or, for example, a high content of iron oxides, magnetic influence alone will not be enough. A combination of methods is needed here. There was a project at a factory for the production of building materials - the water from the well was simply “rusty”.Water demagnetizerThe scale situation improved a little, but the main problem remained iron. We had to supplement the system with aeration and iron removal filters.

Another limiting factor is temperature. Most serial industrial models are designed for temperatures up to 80-90°C. For cooling systems - normal. But if we are talking about make-up water for low-pressure steam boilers, where the temperature is higher, special designs with heat-resistant insulation and special core alloys are needed. Otherwise, the magnetic properties will “float”.

And of course, we must not forget about old deposits. If pipes or heat exchangers are already clogged with a layer of scale several centimeters deep, a magnetic field will not dissolve it. It can only prevent the formation of a new layer. Therefore, it is optimal to putdegausseron a relatively clean system or after chemical flushing. Otherwise, the first year you will be disappointed without seeing an instant miracle.

Thoughts for the future and integration into process control systems

Now the trend is not just an autonomous device, but an element of a smart system. Moderndegaussersfrom advanced manufacturers already have sensors for flow, temperature and even electrical conductivity of the outlet water. This data can be entered into a common automated process control system (automated process control system). Imagine: the system sees an increase in electrical conductivity (an indirect sign of an increase in salt concentration) and automatically adjusts the operating modewater demagnetizeror gives a signal to increase the purging of the circulation circuit.

For such a large company as LONGI, which produces about 4,000 units of equipment per year, this is a logical direction of development. The introduction of their devices into the general control loop of a mining and processing plant is the next step. This is no longer just a fight against scale, but an element of managing resource efficiency and energy saving.

In the future, it is possible that hybrid systems will appear, where magnetic processing is combined with ultrasonic or pulsed processing. This can solve the problem with the already mentioned old deposits. But for now these are more laboratory developments. In real practice, as at the same LONGI enterprise, the main thing is reliability, maintainability and clear efficiency. So that the technician at the site can understand for himself whether the device is working or not, and if necessary, replace the module, rather than waiting a month for a specialist from the center.

In the end, going back to the beginning,water demagnetizer- this is a serious tool for a technologist, and not a magical artifact. Its effectiveness depends on a dozen factors: from water chemistry to correct installation. And the experience of such market players as the LONGI corporation, which lives in real production and not in brochures, confirms this. The main thing is to approach without excessive expectations, but also without skepticism, with an understanding of the physics of the process and the specific conditions at your site.