Managing Changing Waste Streams During Data Center Commissioning in North Texas 

Initial Line Cleaning

Before a new cooling system enters service, piping and mechanical equipment may need to be cleaned and flushed to remove material left behind during fabrication and installation.

On this project, the initial line-cleaning wastewater contained low concentrations of glycol along with corrosion inhibitor used during system preparation.

Because the water had circulated through newly installed piping and equipment, metals were also a potential consideration within the waste stream.

The initial cleaning phase represented a smaller portion of the overall project volume, but the chemistry required closer evaluation than the larger-volume water generated later in the project.

Potential constituents included:

• Approximately 1% glycol in portions of the wastewater
• Corrosion inhibitor
• Metals associated with contact with piping and mechanical systems
• Suspended solids and other material removed during line cleaning

Waste characterization helped determine an appropriate treatment pathway before the material was received.

High-Volume Chiller Water

Once initial cleaning activities progressed, the project began generating a much larger volume of chiller and cooling-system water.

While this water was generally less complex than the early cleaning stream, the volume created a different challenge.

Wastewater was transported from the project in approximately 5,000-gallon loads and delivered for treatment.

With a project of this size, the work represents many individual tanker loads moving between the jobsite and the receiving treatment facility.

For large data center construction projects, that transportation component can become just as important as the treatment process itself.

Coordinating available transportation, treatment capacity and project timing helps prevent wastewater storage or removal from becoming a constraint on commissioning activities.

Treatment and Final Management

After arriving at Valicor, the wastewater was treated based on the characteristics of the incoming stream.

Treatment removes or reduces contaminants and prepares the wastewater for appropriate downstream management.

Following treatment, processed wastewater from the project was discharged to the local publicly owned treatment works in accordance with applicable facility acceptance and discharge requirements.

This approach provided the project with an offsite outlet for both the more complex initial cleaning wastewater and the larger volumes of chiller water generated later in the commissioning process.

Supporting Data Centers From Construction Through Operations

Commissioning wastewater is only one part of the cooling-system lifecycle.

Data centers can continue generating wastewater after startup through:

• Cooling-system maintenance
• Glycol replacement
• Closed-loop drain-downs
• Equipment changeouts
• Cooling tower blowdown
• Chiller maintenance
• System cleaning
• Emergency or off-spec wastewater events

Valicor provides transportation and wastewater treatment solutions for these streams throughout construction, commissioning and ongoing facility operation.

Our network allows us to evaluate both project-based and recurring wastewater needs and identify appropriate treatment options based on the characteristics of each waste stream.

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