Water softeners and dealkalizers are essential in industrial water pretreatment programs, significantly reducing scale build-up in boilers and related equipment. While salt is fundamental for their operation, not all salt is created equal. The quality of salt directly impacts system efficiency, maintenance requirements, and overall performance.
Key Factors: Turbidity and Hardness
Watertech recently evaluated six different salt samples and observed substantial differences in turbidity (clarity) and hardness levels. High-quality salts demonstrate low turbidity and hardness, enhancing system reliability, whereas poor-quality salts introduce contaminants that impair functionality.
Salt Sample Test Results:
| Salt Sample |
Hardness |
Turbidity |
| Sample 1 |
240 |
Excellent/Clear |
| Sample 2 |
450 |
Good |
| Sample 3 |
650 |
Good |
| Sample 4 |
1,000 |
Good |
| Sample 5 |
2,870 |
Poor |
| Sample 6 |
2,820 |
Poor/Brown |
Sample 1 and 6 after shaking the jars
Impacts of Poor-Quality Salt
High Turbidity: Problems in Softeners
Salt with excessive turbidity contains dirt and suspended solids (TSS), which accumulate inside brine tanks. This contamination increases maintenance frequency, causing downtime and operational disruptions. Regular softener maintenance and effective brine tank cleaning strategies are essential to avoid costly downtime.
High Hardness: Issues in Dealkalizers
Dealkalizers using chloride cycle technology rely on high-purity salt to regenerate resin effectively. Salt containing hardness impurities will contaminate the resin, causing calcium fouling. Continuous usage of hard salts can lead to hardness leakage exceeding 30 ppm, resulting in significant scale formation downstream, impairing equipment efficiency and operational performance.
Even small amounts of scale formation can lead to significant fuel loss.
Partnering for Optimal Water System Performance
If your system experiences high hardness leakage or maintenance challenges, your salt choice may be the root cause. Watertech's experts offer tailored evaluations to determine salt quality impacts on your systems, ensuring efficiency, reliability, and compliance.
For a comprehensive system evaluation or questions regarding salt quality impacts, request a site survey and one of our technical engineers will be in touch. Optimize your systems today by choosing the right salt—because quality matters.
