Article Contents

1. Introduction
2. Example 1
3. Examples 2 and 3
4. Lessons Learned
5. Other Improvements
6. Dragout Tank
7. Sprays
8. Counterflowing Sprays
9. The Bottom Line

Ten Minutes to Better Rinsing
(p. 3)

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Example No. 2. Seventy gallons per hour counterflows from rinse number two to rinse number one. The one gallon per hour dragout is diluted 71:1 in each rinse tank; 71X71=5,041:1. (The exact answer is 4,971:1 since a small amount of dilution is lost because slightly contaminated water flows from rinse number two to rinse number one.)

Example No. 3. With three counterflow rinses using only 17 gallons per hour of water, on e gallon per hour of dragout is diluted by almost 18:1 in each rinse. 18X18X18=5832:1. (The actual ratio is 5,220:1.)

With three rinses, you use less than one-fifth the water used in example No. 1, and rinsing is 52 times better. You can also say that each additional rinse tank improves rinsing by at least 17 times in this case.

Without having to do any of the math, Table 1 shows the water requirements using one rinse or as many as five counterflowing rinses. The table provides for several dilution ratios, from 100:1 to 20,000:1.

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