Fluoride by ProMinent May 2016 ProMinent Australia Head Office - Sydney Unit 4, 4 Narabang Way BELROSE NSW 2085 PO Box 85, BELROSE WEST NSW 2085 Ph: (02) 9450 0995 Fax: (02) 9450 0996 Fax (02) 9450 0994 - for orders Email:sales@prominentfluid.com.au Website: www.prominentfluid.com.au ProMinent Melbourne Office 1/21-22 National Drive HALLAM VIC 3803 Ph: (03) 8795 7430 Fax: (03) 8795 7431 Email: pfcvic@prominentfluid.com.au ProMinent Brisbane Office 1/68 Murdoch Circuit ACACIA RIDGE QLD 4110 PO Box 6024 Upper Mt Gravatt QLD 4122 (07) 3213 1900 Fax: (07) 3272 0445 Email: pfcqld@prominentfluid.com.au
Fluoridation Fluoridation of drinking water remains the most significant dental health program in New South Wales and Australia. The advantage of water fluoridation is that the entire community benefits from the preventative measure, regardless of age, socio-economic level, educational achievement, individual motivation, or the availability of dentists. Fluoride packages and installations have to meet strict guide lines. In New South Wales where ProMinent Australia have supplied more than 70 systems, there is a fluoride code, Code of Practice for the fluoridation of Water Supplies Act 1957 This code was published by the Oral Health Branch of the Dept of Health and revised in August 2002. This code has also been accepted by other Australian states as the bench mark for fluoride installations.
TYPES of FLUORIDE Fluoride is available commercially in 3 different ways, 2 are powders the other a liquid. Each display different concentrations of available fluoride ions & solubility Powders Sodium fluoride (NaF) - most expensive, 44% by weight available fluoride ion (solubility is 4.0%) Sodium Silicofluoride (Na2SiF6) - 60% by weight available fluoride ion (solubility 0.4%, nominal design solution strength 0.2%) Liquid Hydrofluosilicic acid (H2SiF6) - liquid up to 29% by weight available fluoride ion
Some of the Fluoride Packages ProMinent can offer Saturator 5kg Container Saturator Vacuum load of 25 kg bags Sodium Silicofluoride Vacuum load Crane & hoist bulk bag unloader Vacuum bulk bag unloader
Sodium Fluoride Saturators With ProMinent 5kg or vacuum load saturators, we offer both down flow with filter media and up flow with external filters. Sodium fluoride has a reliable saturation solubility of 4%. Excess sodium fluoride powder is placed in a dissolving tank and the constant 4 % solution of sodium fluoride produced is dosed into the water supply in proportion to the mains mag flow meter milliamp signal. The ProMinent metering pump is set to display the total amount dosed. This is to be compared daily against the total water flow to ensure correct dosing has taken place. The metering pump has a monitor to detect if the dosing has stopped and alarm accordingly.
5kg Saturators ProMinent s 5-250 sodium fluoride saturator was designed for small water supplies up to around 2 Ml/day, but can be used for much larger plants than this. 5kg saturator in a portable shed Featuring patented container cutter, loader & water flushing device
ProMinent organised the supply of sodium fluoride granules in a 5 kg screw-top, foilsealed plastic containers. To ensure easy and dust free unloading of this sodium fluoride container, ProMinent designed and patented a special loader to accept the container, slice the seal, and allow the powder to dump into the saturator tank. Then by the push of a button the container can be flushed with clean water to allow the jar to be easily disposed of in the normal plastic recycling.
Loading of the 5kg jars of sodium fluoride powder Firstly remove the screw top cap from the 5 kg fluoride container. Check the security of the container seal. Remove the delivery protection cap from the container unloader. Invert the 5 kg container and screw clockwise into the unloader until it seats. Remove the black positioning plug stop. Holding the red handle, rotate the top of the loader with the container attached, in an anticlockwise direction. As it rotates the container seal will be cut to allow the contents to fall into the saturator solution tank below. About 10% of the seal will remain intact to prevent it from also from falling into the tank. Now that the container is empty, hold the water flush button. This opens a water flush line to wash the inside of the bottles. Slowly rotate the red handle backwards and forwards to flush clean the bottle. When the bottle is clean return the red handle to the start position.
Replace the black positioning stop to prevent holder rotating while unscrewing the bottle. If no further containers are to be unloaded, either leave the flushed container in place until the next unloading of chemical is required or replace the attached cover. To install more containers, remove the empty clean container for disposal with your plastic recycling. Load up a new container as described above. When flushing the containers, if one flush was not sufficient to clean the insides of the container, repeat the flush cycle again while rotating the container. While ever the minimum NaF bed depth of 150 mm is maintained (requirement from NSW fluoride act) a 4% sodium fluoride solution will be available for dosing into the water supply in proportion to the mains 4-20 ma mag flow signal.
Down flow saturators Setting a down flow Saturator in Operation To set a down flow saturator in operation fill the saturator tank with 2 courses of media sand (see media depth diagram) Fill the saturator tank with water allowing space for powder to be added. Prime the dosing pump (as detailed in the enclosed pump manual). Calibrate the pump to the flow signal so as to give a dosing rate of 1 mg/litre when pump stroke is on 95% and code lock the pump. (Variations to 1 mg/litre will apply in some hotter locations or where there is a higher than normal natural fluoride levels in the water. Due to the toxic nature of the fluoride solution, ProMinent recommends that the above steps be carried out without the presence of fluoride. Fluoride can be added when the system is calibrated, tested and ready to set into service.
Up flow saturator The raw water enters the tank through a lateral pipe system that sits under the undissolved sodium fluoride powder. The water passes through the fluoride and becomes saturated to 4%. Sodium fluoride (supplied in 5kg screw-top sealed plastic containers) is added to the saturator tank via the bottle cutter.
A saturated solution is reached when there is un-dissolved granules present inside the tank. NSW regulations require a minimum depth of 250mm of un-dissolved granules at all times for an up flow saturator. The saturated solution is drawn from the saturator tank from a baffled outlet. It is drawn through 2 inline cartridge filters to prevent undissolved fluoride particles being metered into the water supply.
Saturator with vacuum loader for 25 kg bags For water supplies up to10 Ml/day ProMinent Fluid Controls have a sodium fluoride saturator with a vacuum loader for unloading sodium fluoride granules from 25 kg bags.. The vacuum loader especially designed for fluoride, is mounted on the saturator and comes complete with dust extractor, suction wand and a flexible hose. The ProMinent vacuum loader is suitable for both the sodium silicofluoride packages and the sodium fluoride saturators.
The vacuum loader operates as follows: As the powder enters the collection unit, the large volume inside the unit causes the air velocity to drop, allowing the powder to fall to the bottom of the unit. The air is then drawn upwards, through a filter to remove any powder particles that are still airborne, before leaving the unit via the vacuum motor. The vacuum wand is constructed from two different diameter stainless steel tubes. The larger is used to transfer the powder from the bag to the filtration unit via the vacuum hose. The smaller allows air to be mixed with the product for efficient transfer.
Vacuum Loader With the vacuum loader switched on, the wand is inserted into the container or open bag. The vacuum motor will operate for 40 seconds (or longer) before stopping. At this point, the inlet valve will close, and the pneumatically actuated dump valve at the bottom of the chamber will open, allowing the collected powder to drop into the hopper. A cleaning cycle will also begin. Once the cleaning cycle has completed, the dump valve will close, the inlet valve will open and the vacuum motor will start again. This valve on the suction side of the vacuum loader is to prevent powder from blowing out of the wand during the cleaning cycle.
The ProMinent Vacuum Transfer System is available in 2 models and includes: collection chamber compressed air handling system suction valve dump valve hand held vacuum wand vacuum motor Dedicated air supply (either a compressor or plant air)
The saturator comes as a package all mounted suitable for ease of installation complete with overflow, drain, calibration cylinder, isolation valves and metering pump. Two mandatory mains water flow switches are to be fitted in accordance with the fluoride ACT A calibration cylinder is provided to accurately calibrate the metering pump against the dosing conditions. The metering pump is set to display the total amount dosed. This is compared daily against the total water flow to ensure correct dosing has occurred. Metering pumps are supplied with a flow failure monitor and alarm relay to alarm if dosing stops. All saturators are supplied with softeners on the incoming water.
Sodium Silicofluoride Vacuum and Bulk bag loading
General Description ProMinent offer varying packages for sodium silicofluoride preparation and dosing. A number of different powder loading methods are available such as: Vacuum loader 25 kg bags Manual bag loader for 25 kg bags Bulk bag with conveyor transfer Bulk bag with vacuum transfer Bulk bag mounted directly over the day hopper With all of the above either an integral or attached dust extractor is required, with the exhaust piped outside the room to near ground level above a water dust trap tank. The control panel is normally mounted on the hopper frame so that it can be prewired and tested before leaving our works. If it is required that the control panel is to be mounted on the building wall, the package still has to be wired for testing in our works, separated for despatch and reconnected at site incurring additional costs.
A typical sodium silicofluoride package could consist of: Hopper for 36 hours capacity (we would suggest 72) in 304SS Hopper support frame and base - HDGMS Bulk Bag loader (painted MS) or Vacuum loader (304SS) or Manual bag loader Control Panel Dust extractor with exhaust water trap tank Powder feeder 316 SS Loss of weight recording system with chart recorder or digital display Solution tank with10 minutes retention in 316 SS or HDPE Stirrer 316 SS shaft and prop Transfer pump Spectra PC or Peristaltic or Gravity feed with flow control Accessories like water softener, compressor etc. as required
Sodium Silicofluoride with vacuum loader Vacuum loader Hopper with at least 36 hours capacity Hopper support frame with load cells Stirrer Powder feeder Solution tank Transfer pump
Typical Sodium silicofluoride skid mounted package with vacuum loader and DULCOflex transfer pump.
Provision has to be made for storing 90 days supply of fluoride powder inside the fluoride room. (NSW Fluoride Act) The walls of the fluoride room have to be smooth and have no horizontal grooves to catch fluoride dust. Windows are to be flush on the inside.
Fluoride packages can be gravity fed or transferred to the injection point via a ProMinent Spectra progressive cavity or DULCOflex peristaltic hose pump. With gravity feed packages, to ensure a 10 minute retention time in the solution tank, we include flow regulators on the incoming water.
This shows a manual bag loader with dust extractor attached. Product caught in the dust extractor falls back into the hopper. Cheaper grades of fluoride are available from different countries. A ProMinent crumbler can be fitted between the bag loader and the hopper for removing lumps from poorer quality sodium silicofluoride.
Typical sodium silicofluoride vacuum load package Inside a typical sodium silicofluoride room, this plant suitable for 20 Ml/day water supply.
ProMinent use 3 load cells on smaller packages and 4 on larger, for the loss of weight recording. The 24 hour recorder chart would normally be replaced only when hopper is refilled.
Low level switch is required to protect the equipment. High level is set to alarm on overflow and can be set to close a solenoid valve on the inlet water.
Control panel showing the mimic and a circular (24 hr) chart recorder to record loss of weight. A digital indicator may be accepted as an alternative.
Stainless circular solution tank with floor mounted stirrer. ProMinent PE tanks with tank mounted stirrer are an alternative. Tank has a baffle to prevent the direct passage of powder that has not dissolved short circuiting to the outlet. The outlet from the tank is about 100 mm from the bottom. If the water hardness exceeds 75 mg/l as calcium carbonate a water softener may be required. There are two control methods a) Constant solution transfer with varying solution strength b) Constant solution strength with varying solution transfer
Bulk Bag Installations For unloading from bulk bags we offer the following: Loading from the bottom of bulk bags using a crane and hoist unloader Loading from the bottom of bulk bags using a fork lift unloader Unloading from the top of a bulk bag with a vacuum loader. Crane & hoist Fork lift with spring-lift bag supports ProMinent vacuum unloader
Crane & Hoist The bulk crane and hoist bag loader we offer would normally come with an electronically operated hoist for lifting the bags and placing them in position. It has a lifting capacity of 1250 kg and operation is controlled via a hand held push button pendant on a drop cord. The double wall design bulk bag interface provides a dust tight sealed connection to the bulk bag outlet spout via a spout lock clamp ring. A dust collection system is manifolded between the bulk bag unloader and the day hopper with the exhaust piped outside to above a water trap tank. At the base of the loader is an intermediate hopper from where the powder is conveyed to the day hopper, via a motor driven spiral conveyor of capacity up to 5,000 l/h. Dust tight connection Intermediate (floor) hopper and flexible conveyor
Crane Hoist Bulk Bag Installations
This shows the dust extractor, intermediate hopper and 2 flexible conveyors going off to feed two separate hoppers This shows a wetting cone eductor feed package where the solution is fed up into the solution tank. This package has one preparation tank with fixed rate solution transfer and varying solution strength.
Spent bulk bag being collapsed by operating the dust extractor
Height restrictions When height poses a problem, we offer a specially designed eductor and wetting cone arrangement for mixing the fluoride and transferring it up and into the solution tank. This lowers the hopper considerably and reduces the building height requirement. The ProMinent vacuum package for unloading from the top of bulk bags is also suitable where height restrictions are a major factor.
ProMinent designed vacuum loader for bulk bags
Twin vacuum units Pneumatic slide gate 38 Hopper & wetting cone
Dust tight bag clamp with vacuum ring Control panel Transfer pump skid 39
Fluoride Monitor For the continuous monitoring of fluoride levels in water supplies, a ProMinent fluoride analyser is available with milliamp retransmit and alarms. The analyser is normally supplied as backboard mounted with temperature, fluoride and reference electrodes. A magnetic stirrer is also provided to assist with the single or two point calibration. Standard unit measures free fluoride with an optional unit available for total fluoride. We also provide a double validation unit each probe checking against the other and alarming on fault.
Pump Skids Types of Metering and Transfer Pumps for Fluoride Solenoid Metering Pump DULCOflex Peristaltic Motor Driven metering Pump Spectra Progressive cavity
Images show fluoride solution tanks, vent tanks and peristaltic transfer pump.