As areas on and near the coast stand at the top of the 2024 hurricane season, companies that require large volumes of demineralized water are more and more proactively considering their storm mitigation strategy. The frequency and intensity of hurricanes has been on an increasing trajectory since the 1980s, and the odds of a quiet hurricane season are not in our favor.
The impact of extreme weather on the availability of mobile water treatment is significant. When a hurricane or other large weather event is forecast, the inventory of mobile demineralizer trailers can dry up overnight, as public power generation facilities exercise the priority extended to them to keep electricity flowing. This has a negative ripple effect on other users of mobile treatment units who find themselves with a supply that is high-priced at best and non-existent at worst. For these industrial users, operational downtime equals profit loss and potential production risk.
A Better Way to Rent: Containerized Water Treatment
Renting mobile water treatment trailers is a common strategy for a wide range of industrial facilities, from power generation to petrochemical, fertilizer production, oil and gas, pulp and paper manufacturing and many other sectors that use substantial amounts of water in their processes. Renting can also provide companies with greater financial flexibility by converting capital expenses into operating expenses.
However, in an age when extreme weather has become the norm, the conventional mobile exchange trailer market is unable to meet the increasing demand. Because most mobile trailers must move regularly between user locations and their service depot (for regeneration, due to their fixed water purification capacity), their supply is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. If roads are blocked or washed away, if waterways are flooded, if drivers are unavailable or if the transportation network is otherwise shut down, the mobile trailer network is challenged and can be literally frozen in place.
In anticipation of protecting their water treatment trailer supply, many plants will “stock up” on trailers when extreme weather is in the forecast, effectively monopolizing the supply and preventing other industries from getting access. This dynamic often has regional impacts: for example, hurricanes forecast in the Gulf Coast can result in a trailer shortage in the Midwest.
As a better alternative, semi-permanent containerized solutions combine all the advantages of a purchased system with the flexibility and upside of renting. And for certain technologies, there are even greater benefits over renting a mobile trailer. The “best of both worlds” container rental de-risks the supply of water and minimizes the threat of downtime with these benefits:
- Unlimited capacity. For containerized units that use electrodeionization (EDI), facilities do not have to worry about running out of demineralizer capacity. The technology uses electricity, membranes and media that continually self-regenerate, so there are no chemicals to replenish, and the unit never has to be switched out for cleaning and recharging.
- Price stability. Because they are semi-permanent, containerized units are not as subject to price volatility as the mobile trailer market.
- Access to leading-edge technology. Renting offers companies access to the most upgraded version of a product, providing advanced technology without the burden of ownership or the need to make a capital investment.
- Scaling up or down is easy. If a plant needs to increase capacity, scaling up simply involves adding another container. And likewise, if a plant no longer needs as much capacity, scaling down is just as simple.
- Flexible contracts. Whether the need is short-term or long-term, renting offers flexibility.
- Rapid response solution. As opposed to an owned system that needs time for budgeting, financing, piloting, design and installation, rented systems can be deployed quickly, in as little as a week. And because they are not part of the mobile trailer network, they are not vulnerable to weather-related supply chain problems.
- Customizable. Mobile units can be rapidly customized for a user’s specific water treatment needs, even for short-term use. For industrial effluent this is especially key because each plant’s treatment requirements are different.
Industry Response to Hurricanes & Extreme Weather Events
Extreme weather does not just affect the point of impact. A natural disaster has ripple effects up and down the supply chain and cuts across multiple industries and regions. And when extreme weather is no longer rare, those effects are amplified exponentially.
To minimize the risk and costs of downtime and noncompliance in water treatment, industries are proactively turning toward semi-permanent containerized units, a new rental solution that side-steps the mobile trailer market while providing enhanced availability and reliability.