Datacenter

Chemical free cooling water treatment for a sustainable data center

Data centers are under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of their energy and water use. Governments, customers, and society at large are paying close attention. For this data center, the challenge was to find the optimal balance between Power Usage Effectiveness and Water Usage Effectiveness. In other words: using energy as efficiently as possible without increasing water consumption.

The challenge: improving PUE without increasing WUE

Power Usage Effectiveness indicates how efficiently a data center uses energy. Water Usage Effectiveness measures how much water is required per unit of energy. In many cases, a lower PUE leads to a higher WUE, as additional cooling often requires more water. This data center aimed to improve both indicators at the same time.

The key lay in using cooling water more intelligently. By choosing chemical free cooling water treatment and reusing water streams, energy efficiency could be increased while keeping water consumption low. With this objective in mind, Pathema’s IVG technology was selected.

The solution: one integrated cooling water system

The data center operated 124 separate cooling towers, each with its own system for make up and blowdown. This resulted in complex management, higher costs, and unnecessary drinking water consumption. Pathema integrated these individual systems into one centralized and integrated cooling water treatment system.

Thanks to this integration, it became possible to operate at higher cycles of concentration and to remove heat more efficiently. As a result, drinking water consumption decreased by 35 percent. The Industrial Vortex Generator played a key role by improving heat transfer and increasing cooling capacity.

From chemical to chemical free

When the data center still relied on chemical cooling water treatment, the cooling system suffered from structural biological fouling and corrosion. These issues had a direct impact on reliability and maintenance.

By physically redesigning the system and fully switching to chemical free cooling water treatment, these challenges were resolved. The cooling water now remains stable and clean without the use of chemicals.

The result: stable cooling and lower impact

Since the implementation of Pathema’s circular and chemical free cooling water treatment, cooling performance has become demonstrably more stable. Temperature distribution across the data halls is uniform and reliable, even during prolonged warm periods.

In addition, CO₂ emissions have been significantly reduced and water consumption has been structurally lowered. Cooling water chemicals are no longer required.

Ready for the future

This case shows that energy efficiency and water savings can go hand in hand. By combining chemical free technology with smart system integration, Pathema helps data centers improve performance while reducing environmental impact. In doing so, we make the water transition for industrial large scale users rigorously simple.

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