Clean Machines - Eco-Tec's Answer To Water Purification And Acid Reclamation

Nuclear reactors can best be described as complex plumbing projects. Say what you will about the power of fission, but it's the power of water that actually generates the electricity at Ontario Power Generation's Pickering operation. Heavy water flows through the reactor's fuel channels to heat a boiler, while a supply of water from Lake Ontario is transformed into the steam that moves a turbine.

Granted, the lake doesn't exactly offer the level of purity required by the boiler and its related plumbing. The water needs to be treated by several layers of technology – all of which was developed a short distance up the road.

Pickering-based Eco-Tec is behind the Spectrum Micro Media Filters that remove an array of solids; a reverse osmosis membrane collecting salts that would otherwise form a scale on the inside of the boiler; and the Recoflo ion exchange system that uses a bed of resin to capture remaining salts such as calcium and silica. In the event any problems occur, an alarm automatically calls a technician who can take the helm of the control room with nothing more than an Internet connection.

Eco-Tec has been treating water supplies for boilers since the 1980s, and it's easy to see some of the reasons behind its success. The designs need as little as one-third of the space required for traditional ion exchange systems that incorporate massive storage tanks. The Recoflo resins can also be washed clean while units remain online, rather than a traditional process that regularly has to be shut down for hours on end.

It's only one example of technology that the company has developed since it first established a new use for ion exchange systems.