Following the oil and gas and energy production, the water market is the third largest market worldwide. It covers the extraction of drinking water via water treatment, from the transport through pipe systems to the end consumer, the transport and treatment of wastewater and on to the flood control of entire cities.

The medium of water

Water is not just water. It forms a widely varied media group of completely demineralized deionized water, from drinking water, mineral water, brine, thermal water, pit water, seawater, brackish water, rainwater to the partial currents of the most various wastewater compositions e.g. gray and black water with a high percentage of solids and pollutants and, not least, different compositions of industrial process water.

The challenge here lies in sealing the rotating equipment in water applications: depending on the purity, solid or gas content, the dissolved substances or the pH value, "water" places the highest demands on the utilized construction and face materials of the mechanical seal and also often enough on the type of seal.

For drinking water applications, not only does the resistance of the materials play a role, but also the safeness of the utilized face and structural materials of the seal must meet the strictest of standards and be certified with, e.g. FDA, WRAS, ACS or KTW.