Modern drift eliminators are ...

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Modern drift eliminators are typically rated between 0.005% (cross-flow design) and 0.001% (counter-flow design) of recirculation rate.  If an operating system does not include automated blowdown (not recommended), cycles of concentration could be limited by deposition/scaling, side-stream filtration/separators, intermittent overflow during idle periods, process leaks, etc.  Detailed makeup and recirculating water analyses would allow an ion mass balance.  Compare conductivity, calcium, sodium, and silica cycles to see how closely they align.

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I run silica cycles, along with total hardness and chloride cycles, however, there are certain difficulties with getting "perfect" data on the silica cycles, as the make-up silica at our plant varies considerably from day to day.  I have heard reports of utilizing high-efficiency soft water plant, while retaining the silica in the water, and simply closing the blow-down, to arrive at ~100 cycles of concentration.  BTW, drift solids are reduced even further when there is sufficient dissolved solids in the water such that making a PM10 particle is completely impossible.

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