RYDLYME in Action

The following case studies are just a sampling of how RYDLYME has helped companies save money, time and equipment. For recent news about RYDLYME and our other products, you can go to our News page!

RYDLYME improves efficiency on cooling tower
A 35-ton cooling tower at a major college had compressors operating at more than 260psi just to maintain a 70°F water temperature due to heavy water scale. RYDLYME was put into the system to dissolve the scaling.

RYDLYME approach
55 gallons circulated for 4 hours via inline pumps and then flushed with water. Cleaning was done while system was in operation!

RYDLYME results
Compressors are only operating at 165psi to maintain the 70°F water temperature!
RYDLYME is now part of the cooling tower's annual maintenance schedule.
Maintenance personnel found additional uses for RYDLYME, including cleaning: steam lines at the cafeteria, humidifier at the fieldhouse and plate and frame heat exchanger.

RYDLYME decreases chiller's approach temperature by 10°F!
An office building was experiencing inadequate cooling due to severe scale buildup in its 125-ton Trane chiller. The Trane service technician turned to RYDLYME for a solution to the cooling problem.

RYDLYME approach
30 gallons circulated for 4 hours.

RYDLYME results
Approach temperatures went from 13°F to 3°F!
Trane technician extremely pleased with result.
Office employees were once again cool and productive!


Oil refinery continues to turn to RYDLYME for its exchangers
A Midwest refinery had two large exchangers that required chemical cleaning. The refinery has a long history of success with RYDLYME and specified it for cleaning these critical exchangers with its onsite environmental contractor performing the circulation.

RYDLYME approach
165 gallons circulated for 6 hours per exchanger.

RYDLYME results
Process engineer stated cleaning was successful and exchangers were performing to design specifications!

Butane overhead condenser returned to original operating efficiency!
A Canadian energy company had fouling issues with cooling water at one of its plants that caused severe scaling in a butane overhead condenser. A 50% RYDLYME solution was recommended to dissolve the accumulated scale within the condenser.

RYDLYME approach 330 gallons circulated for 6 hours at ambient temperature, reversing flow every half hour using a pumper truck.

RYDLYME results
Complete removal of the scale and the cooling duty returned to same efficiency as when new!

"We'll never rod another heat exchanger again!" A California gas plant was experiencing heavy scale deposits in its entire plant cooling system.

RYDLYME approach
6,600 gallons of RYDLYME was recommended for the 33,000-gallon system.
Due to the large volume of water and low concentration of RYDLYME (20%), the system was divided into three isolated loops with each loop circulated with the solution for at least 2 hours.
After the individual loop cleanings, all three were opened up and cleaned as a whole for an additional 8 hours.

RYDLYME results
In less than 24 hours, the entire system was free of deposits prompting our customer to tell us, "We'll never rod another heat exchanger again!"

Delta-T increased at biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility
The cooling towers at a biopharmaceutical manufacturing company in the Midwest had become packed with scale. The severe scaling resulted in the inability of the towers to maintain any cooling capacity during extremely hot summer temperatures. RYDLYME approach
660 gallons circulated for 6 hours.

RYDLYME results
Cleaning resulted in Delta-T increase of 14°
The gains in efficiency resulted in the client instituting an immediate cleaning program for all its cooling tower systems.

RYDLYME gains approval of U.S. Navy and USS ENTERPRISE
The main and auxiliary condensers on the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) nuclear aircraft carrier accumulated a significant amount of scaling and foreign debris with a majority of it in the saltwater portion of the system. Each condenser contains 8,880 tubes measuring 0.5 inch in diameter and 16 feet in length, and is a critical component of the vessel’s main propulsion steam and electrical generating plants. Maintaining a high level of operational efficiency for mission-essential electronics and weapons equipment was critical. Traditionally, the condenser tubes were mechanically cleaned using a drill and high-pressure water blasting. This process was time-consuming and tedious requiring the heads to be removed from the condenser, cleaned and then reinstalled. On average, high-pressure water blasting results in 25% or more of the tubes with enough remaining deposits to fail eddy current probe testing.

RYDLYME approach
Q.E.D. Systems Inc., a Virginia Beach, VA-based marine engineering and technical services firm, a provider of a wide range of chemical cleaning services utilizing RYDLYME for the U.S. Navy, was brought in to clean the condensers.
Without having to disassemble the condenser, RYDLYME was circulated through the condenser tubes.

RYDLYME results
After the cleaning cycle, Q.E.D. inspected and videotaped the condition of the tubes and was found to be in "like-new" condition!
Unlike high-pressure water blasting, the use of RYDLYME resulted in less than 0.2% of the tubes failing eddy current probe testing.
By partnering with the U.S. Navy and Apex Engineering Products Corporation, Q.E.D. has implemented a preventative maintenance program resulting in significant savings to the U.S. government and enhanced operational readiness of the systems and equipment that support our nation's war-fighters.

Cooling water temperature decreases at pharmaceutical facility
A large pharmaceutical manufacturer in Puerto Rico was experiencing severe scaling problems in its cooling tower/chiller systems resulting in decreased performance and efficiency.

RYDLYME approach
1,320 gallons of RYDLYME circulated through the system for 24 hours followed by thorough water flush.

RYDLYME results
After the 24-hour cleaning cycle, the cooling water discharge exhibited a significant decrease of 9°F!
The success of the cleaning resulted in RYDLYME being implemented into the manufacturer’s preventative maintenance program.