12
TheAltamontBnterprtU-Thur$day,June2b30<M
High-tech cooling system saves water at Atlas Copco, costs village revenues
By Zach Simeone
VOORIffiESVniiE^AsAtlas
Copco Comptec saves money and
water, the village of Voorheesville is making up for monetary
losses.
Two months ago, the village
board voted unanimously to raise
the water usage rate for the first
25 gallons to $130 minimum,
paid in advance. On that same
andmany more. They really have
allkinds of uses."
At two meetings in November
and December of 2004, representatives of Atlas Copco Comptec
talked with Mayor Conway,
Commissioner of Public Works
William Smith, and Lamont Engineers about concerns of water
overuse as orisite production was
on the
rise.
'';':'
.you/swe^t^
wh^nUqiud is evaporated, it takes
day, a preliminary budget was
passedibr ftej2gO^|J^fiSeal.year
which showed a $3%p00 decrease
in Revenue firOm metered water
Eh
IT
Trustee David Cardona told
The Enterprise why.
"Atlas Copco is recycling their
water now," Cardona said, "which
is wonderful on the one hand, but
it hurts our revenues because
they are not buying as much
water from us." He said revenues
were dropping "drastically," and
that it's "Voorheesvjlle's biggest
issue right nbW? '
1
"It's just that they're our largest customer,"said ^Tayor Robert
Conway, "so that revenue needed
to be made up somehow"
Since Atlas Copco Comptec
built its< recirculating cooling
tower system in late 2006, it has
reduced its annual water usage
by more than 90 percent The
building process began nearly
four years ago
A b i t of history
The international company
builds industrial compressors
According to Robert Matthews,
quality assurance manager for
Atlas Copco Comptec in Voorheesville, a compressor is essentially a piece of machinery that
is used to boost the pressure of
a gas, usually air
"On a smaller scale, people
might use that pressurized air to
inflate tires," Matthews said. "A
large industrial compressor can
produce a lot more compressed
air for use in factories and so
forth. Some applications include
air separation, power generation, chemical and petrochemical
plants, wastewater treatment,
"We can use w a t e r faster
than they can even pump; it out
of the jgrpiihd*," said; Mj0h§wMi
The amounfc of wateg;,$^(|yj#v:.
test these compressors, he said,
"varies so much because of the"
differences in sizes of the m a chines and the kinds of testing
required. There are fairly short
mechanical tests, which take only
a couple hours, and complicated
performance tests, which can
take many, many hours."
So, m early 2006, construction
The Enterprise — Zach Simeone
The cooling tower: This large, metallic structure cools the recycled water that is eventually sent to
the pump house, where it is stored for use in the testing facility.
It i J^
<-\v
beganvon the new recirculating
cooling tower system, a project
that would,cost .the company
$673,000. Construction was completed in July of 2006, and the
system was fully operational by
September of that year
It was later estimated that,
based on rates from 2005 and
the increase in production, Atlas
Copco would have used mor'e
compressor as nta performance
is tested.
As the water cools the compressed "gas; being tested, it is
heated to about 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. The 100-degree water then flows out of ,the testing
facility and into the 2,000 gallon
holding tank, just next to the
pump house From there) the
water is pumped itfto the recently
JU l
O
n, >
11 ' i
y.\M
Jf'i
HI
i
"I think we were able to adjust the water rate
without hurting anyone too badly."
The Enterprise — Zach Simeone
In the house: Pumps, located in the shed next to the cooling
tower, send the cooled water into the adjacent compressor testing
facility.
'•<
The Enterprise—Zach Simeone
A working example: This compressor, nearly seven feet tall, showcases the size and complexity of
some of the work done at Atlas Copco.
than 20 million gallons of water installed, evaporative cooling
in 2007 were it not for the new towers, which is essentially the
system.
main event here.
But with the recirculating
The water is sprayed down
cooling tower, actual water use from the top of the tower onto
for 2007 ended up at 2 million several layers of vertically argallons — a more-than-90-per- ranged sheets, or baffles, which
cent decrease from the original appear as a practical labyrinth of
estimated amount. In addition, tiny, metallic honeycombs. As the
the company estimated that it water trickles down these sheets,
saved $100,000 thanks to use a large fan blows cool air on the
of the cooling tower. "Butjt was water, which causes cooling by
never a cost-reduction project," evaporation.
said Matthews. "The focus was
"The same way that you're
regulatory compliance, and water cooled when you sweat," Matconservation."
thews said, "when liquid is
Here's how it works
evaporated, it takes heat away.
The compressor-building pro- It's trickling down, there ? s a fan
cess involves.; much Jfcesftngi fo;r«iing;q^we^tii9l^^|h^baffles
•;1^is.;.t^ft|^4g^ft#rA^;:m-adgive.;
amounts ofheat, so water is used >'7Th,e.to^e^c^pli']l^v!^ate^rrbm
to cool the compressed air down 10.6' to 85 .degrees, after v^hich it
as the compressors/are tested,
travels baclttOithe. large storage
Atlas Copcote, jfero York State tank beneath the pump house,
• Wastewater, discharge permit where it started* .
states that its water cafe,be no
. "A trigief#ih":
.,hQl^er.i^an';,$0';'40$rees>Fdahren"This; is, something.we'd been
' h | i t ;ai.]|;^joc^1%Q41.^h<@ve;it^
discharged - - in this case, the .'fp>^H^^^ i ^ i jidi/l^ih',- , istJiliBlack Oteek J^arsfi bShiip,cl its ''tieI;i^8M'1ieydW-:a^'Au^:Cbp^C0''
facility on SchoOlhOuse^ Read- Comptec in Voorheesville.
Before the cooling tower was inMatthews called the cooling
stalled, additional village water towfer system "a triple win —
had to be added to the heated better for the environment, cost
testing water to cool it below 90 benefits for Atlas CopcO, and
degrees.
'
supply benefits for the village,"
Here's how the new system he said. "The only real loss is
works'. There is a 16,000-gallon, revenue for the village."
underground cooled water tank
"They're doing a great job conbeneath a small pump house, serving their1 water, anditfe accela stone's throw away from the erated a bit,5" Mayor Conway told
testing facility. There, the wa- The Enterprise. "So, we're trying
ter is stored until it is needed this other avenue to recoup that
for cooling, when it is'pumped money. I think we were'able to
into the nearby factory and run adjust the water rate without
through a newly constructed hurting anyone too badly."