Evaluation of Groundwater Scaling Control Technologies and Full-Scale Operations Performance at a Ballistics Manufacturing Facility

This paper focuses on the evaluation of feasible groundwater scaling control technologies for an existing groundwater treatment plant that is experiencing severe calcium carbonate scaling downstream of a shallow-tray air stripper. The selected technology for this application was a flow-based pH control system that would regulate the effluent pH to an optimal value to control the scaling. The scaling potential of the system was measured by using the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) as a function of pH, temperature, conductivity, alkalinity and calcium concentration. After installation on the pH control system, we conducted a 120-day performance monitoring test on the system to evaluate the scaling potential compared to the historical data. The testing concluded that the installation of the pH control system was able to successfully reduce the scaling potential of the system to an LSI of zero or below, which yields minimal to no scale forming in the water stream.