Category Archive: Water Treatment

Water Treatment: General Resources

Water treatment is an essential but often complicated process. Water must be able to move smoothly through the filtration system to ensure productivity and reduce downtime and costly repairs. Pure water will run smoothly, but water that contains dirt, surfactants, metabolic waste, organisms, and other impurities will foam when air or another gas is introduced. To avoid foam accumulation and backup while treating water for those impurities, the right foam control solutions must be used in the proper amounts. Choosing your chemical foam control solution is a science: the one you need will depend upon what types of impurities are present in your water and the anticipated use of the treated water.

Chemical Foam Control Solutions For Water Treatment Applications

Foam accumulation during the industrial water treatment process can cause a lot of problems, including potability and quality issues, container overflow, blockages, pump cavitation, slippery surfaces, and obstructed views. It’s essential to control foam production and accumulation to keep the equipment running smoothly, enhance worker safety, and ensure the quality of processed water. To that end, water treatment facilities rely on defoamers and antifoams. In our latest eBook, we discuss a variety of foam control products and their applications in water and wastewater treatment.

Industry Spotlight: Water Treatment

Foaming is a major concern in the water treatment industry, but there are a variety of standard and custom defoamer and antifoam solutions to help you manage it. Defoamers control foam as it develops, while antifoam prevents it from developing in the first place. Each type of product has its advantages in specific applications, including:

  • Aeration basins
  • Water equalization tanks
  • Boiler water treatment
  • Secondary water treatment systems
  • Membrane systems
  • Evaporative water treatment systems
  • Manure pits
  • Cooling towers
  • Moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs)
  • And more

There are various types of defoamers and antifoams, and the one you choose requires careful consideration of your system and its filtration membranes, microorganisms, and other chemistry. You may choose an oil-based or a water-based option, with or without silicone, in powdered or solid form. There is a solution for every system, even in the most specific or unusual conditions, whether your foaming issue is because of biological macromolecules from microbial metabolism, surfactant contamination, or anything else.

Antifoam Agents for Water Treatment

Our infographic lists some possible application points for antifoams within a treatment plant, including membrane bioreactors (MBRs), clarifiers, and sequencing batch reactors (SBRs), and elaborates on two broad antifoam categories:

  • Silicone Antifoam: These contain hydrophobic silicone polymers and inorganic silicates, and they’re available in a range of concentrations, from ready-to-use options to super-concentrated versions that require on-site dilution.
  • Non-Silicone Antifoam: The antifoams in this broad category might include refined oils, wax, organic esters, silicates, and more, in combination or alone.

Foam Treatment Solutions at AMS

Applied Material Solutions (AMS) develops and manufactures a wide range of antifoams and defoamers for water and wastewater treatment systems, along with secondary services like field support, private labeling, drop shipping, toll manufacturing, and custom formulation. Our silicone antifoams include AE-10-TG, AFC-2, TRANS-278 D, and TRANS-2910B, while non-silicone options include TRANS-1553, TRANS-220 D, and TRANS-245, among others, representing the entire suite of foam control chemistries for water treatment applications. They can be purchased in containers as small as five-gallon buckets and as large as bulk tank wagons.

Our headquarters and world-class manufacturing facilities are in Wisconsin. Through the years, we’ve worked with clients all over the country to help them keep their water treatment systems running smoothly and safely. Our team is highly trained and experienced, and we’re committed to providing high-quality solutions at competitive prices. Contact us to learn more about our many defoamers and antifoam solutions, including custom formulations designed for your unique application, and download our latest eBook, Chemical Foam Control Solutions for Water Treatment Applications.

Industry Spotlight: Water Treatment

Water treatment requires both defoamers and antifoams to prevent foaming and air entrapment that commonly occurs in these applications. Without these additives, the treatment process may slow down significantly or cease entirely if water is unable to travel through filtration systems. Subsequently, without the right products to mitigate foam buildup, facilities could suffer from a lack of productivity and costly downtime.

To avoid potential issues and maintain efficient water treatment processes, there are several types of antifoams and defoamers available. This blog post will review the reasons for using these products and some of the factors to consider when selecting them for a water treatment application.

Water Treatment Antifoam and Defoamer Applications

Apart from excessive foam, waterborne and airborne foam can culminate in public relations issues. Foam that’s not properly contained may also present certain hazards, such as visual obstruction, slippery flooring, or the unmitigated and unwanted transport of chemicals or microorganisms. 

To help prevent these problems, defoamers and antifoams are often incorporated into processes to control foam. While antifoam products prevent the formation of foam, defoamers are used to control existing foam as it develops. Some application points where defoamers are applied include:

An engineer controlling a quality of water ,aerated activated sludge tank at a waste water treatment plant. pollution

  • Water Equalization Tanks
  • Aeration Basins
  • Sludge Digesters
  • Clarifiers
  • Secondary Treatment Systems
  • Final Effluent Processing Systems
  • Membrane Systems
  • Landfill Leachate Systems
  • Boiler Water Treatment Systems
  • Manure Pits
  • Cooling Towers

Considerations for Choosing a Water Treatment Defoamer

When selecting the appropriate defoamer or antifoam for a specific water treatment process, it’s necessary to determine the ideal chemistry for the application. It’s also important to assess the antifoam’s compatibility with any filtration membranes and microorganisms.

Depending on the needs of a given application, there are multiple types of water treatment antifoams and defoamers available. Some of the most popular solutions include:

  • Water-based silicone antifoams
  • Water-based silicone-free defoamers
  • Oil-based non-silicone defoamers
  • Non-aqueous synthetic defoamers
  • Powdered or solid defoamers

Regardless of an application’s specific foaming challenge, there’s likely a viable chemical solution available.

Water Treatment Defoamers from Applied Material Solutions

Here at Applied Material Solutions, we provide our customers with a range of defoamers and antifoams that are compatible and effective within many types of water treatment applications. Through the use of our products, users avoid excess foam buildup and the myriad issues that come with it.

Our team specializes in the development and manufacture of numerous types of defoamers and antifoams for a variety of water treatment applications. Our experts can assist you with identifying a defoamer or antifoam that meets your specific requirements. When our customers turn to Applied Material Solutions, they benefit from working with a partner that gives them optimal and economical results.

Get the Defoamer or Antifoam Solution You Need

If you’re in need of defoamer or antifoam products for your water treatment processes, Applied Material Solutions is here to help you select the right additive that will enable you to retain full control over foam levels. For help with locating the right defoamer or antifoam for your water treatment application, please contact us today. Our professionals are ready to assist with product selection and can match your application with the appropriate chemistry.