Control mussel larvae to maintain your cooling system
The settlement of mussel larvae in cooling systems of power plants, industrial plants and refineries is a concrete problem that must be eliminated in order to minimize maintenance costs. Infestations of mussel larvae are mostly the mussel species zebra mussel, quagga mussel and coarse and fine ribbed basket mussel.
In order to detect larval infestation at an early stage, larval monitoring must be established. Most frequently, larval infestation occurs in spring from a water temperature of 10 – 13 °C and sometimes lasts until autumn. During this time, your cooling water should be treated with special cooling water biocides and fine filtration to kill the larvae before they can reproduce. It is especially important to treat the larvae because controlling a mussel infestation is much more costly or, in some cases, impossible. Thus, early prevention is essential to insure the preservation of the cooling system.
To measure larval density, samples are taken upstream and downstream of the gravel bed filter and examined. In addition, the mortality rate, or death rate of the larvae, is determined. It is important to consider whether mussel larvae are active or inactive. Mussel larvae can be inactivated by various factors, such as lack of oxygen or adequate water treatment. For example, mussel larvae may have an even more difficult time surviving in blue-green algae bloom infestations because the blue-green algae blooms remove a lot of oxygen from the water, which the mussel larvae lack to survive.
The use of cooling water biocides increases the mortality rate and decreases the larval density. This is the most effective and environmentally friendly method to control larval infestation. INWATEC GmbH & Co. KG offers you our hydrogen peroxide for this purpose, which kills all mussel larvae reliably and efficiently. It must be used consistently over the period from spring to autumn to achieve a reliable result without mussel infestation. In addition, samples must be taken regularly to adjust the dosage of the product if necessary. INWATEC GmbH & Co. KG will be pleased to support you in this process. You will then no longer need to worry about harmful mussel larvae infestation in the future.
