EnduroSolv® - A Brief History

It has been said that "What goes around, comes around, " and that is somewhat the case of solid water treatment. In the early 1900's, solid water chemicals were used as a means of creating a precipitated sludge that would prevent steam boilers from catastrophic failure - referred to as "blowing up".

Solids offered a solution to the problem - reducing boiler failures. They had some limitations:

• Usually they consisted of only one product. That meant the customer needed to mix chemicals in order to protect all parts of their systems.
• Mixing of chemicals presented its own set of problems - fugitive dust that could be inhaled. Despite these limitations, solids were the preferred method of treating heat exchangers.

This same technology remained well into the 1950's when liquid forms of the chemicals began appearing. Today the most widely used form of water treatment is in liquid form. One of the advantages that liquids offered over the early forms of solids was the ability to mix several different chemicals into one liquid. This did not come without its own set of problems:

• Liquids required a pH adjustment in order to remain soluble - usually accomplished by adding caustic (NaOH, a hazardous chemical) to the solution.
• Liquids present an opportunity for spills.
• Liquids are heavy to ship and handle.