Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. UV De-chlorination
“The PharmaLine DC 100 de-chlorination system works very well without any problems. Since its commissioning, we didn’t find any performance problems with the UV system. Till now we are very happy on its performance. It is controlled by Central PLC. We only follow up maintenance procedure for the system which is just servicing the module every six months. In future we have intention to replace all ACF/SMB based dechlorination system with the Hanovia DC UV system”.
Mr. Abad Ali
Executive, Engineering Department
Square Pharmaceutical Ltd.
COMPANY: Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
INDUSTRY: Pharmaceuticals
APPLICATION: De-chlorination
The Pharmaline DC 100 UV system is showing excellent performance for de-chlorination as per the specifications provided by Hanovia. Furthermore, even if the free chlorine level is more than double of 0.4 mg/ liter (which is the specified designed maximum concentration), the UV unit is still able to de-chlorinate the feed water.
Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, the flagship company of Square Group, is holding the strong leadership position in the pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh since 1985 and is now on its way to becoming a high-performance global player. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh and it has been continuously in the 1st position among all national and multinational companies since 1985
In August 2019 they installed a PharmaLine DC 100 for de-chlorination. The unit is used for continuous de-chlorination and dis-infection of RO feed water in the Pure Water Generator. The unit is sized for up to 1.5 m3/h with 2 log free chlorine reduction. Since commissioning the system has been working smoothly 24/7.
Before installation of DC UV system they were using sodium meta bisulfite dosing system (MSBS) with an ORP control. The ORP based MSBS system is generally not very reliable because of three reasons; ORP systems can show fluctuations and measurement errors.
The MSBS concentration and the reaction time for removal of free chlorine can be unstable. Moreover, because of MSBS dosing, the microbiological load (sulfate-reducing bacteria) can dramatically increase during medium to long term periods. Scaling formation on the RO membranes can reduce the life time of RO membranes. Using UV instead of MSBS has none of the above drawbacks.
Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Short time goal
The short term and most critical objective of installing a de-chlorination system is reducing the free chlorine load on the process and minimize direct and indirect down-time in production.
Long term goal
To increase water quality of the system in terms of chemical and microbiological parameters in order optimize the water treatment process.
Challenge
The main challenge for Square was to remove free chlorine with alternative chemical free technologies for the protection of reverse osmosis and de-ionization in the pure water generation. Another challenge was to maintain a continuous flow with low frequency of system down time and optimized low running cost.
Solution
A PharmaLine DC 100 unit was installed for de-chlorination in 2017. The UV system was installed before RO Feed to reduce the free chlorine in order to prevent RO and EDI membrane from the damaged with free chlorine as well as to prevent biofouling. The UV unit reduces free chlorine concentration from higher than 0.4 mg/ liter to untraceable level. Output of the system continuously measures free chlorine with a free chlorine kit in order to avoid the presence of free chlorine in the water.
Results
The Pharmaline DC 100 UV system is showing excellent performance for de-chlorination as per the specifications provided by Hanovia. Furthermore, even if the free chlorine level is more than double of 0.4 mg/ liter (which is the specified designed maximum concentration), the UV unit is still able to de-chlorinate the feed water. The output level of free chlorine is untracable. The microbiological results are also much better and the RO system performance has got better since the UV installation.
Costs
The operational cost is very favorable when comparing the alternative chlorine removal systems since you only have to change the lamp every 6 months. Also, it reduces down-time for production which indirectly reduces production costs.
UV dechlorination provides distinct advantages over traditional technologies such as Activated Carbon Filtration or Sodium Metabisulphite dosing. These chlorine removal methods are prone to microbial contamination and require significantly more operator involvement and plant room space than UV leading to higher lifetime costs.
