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CUC to use up Rydlyme stock
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Posted on Oct 21 2008
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is planning to soon use thousands of gallons of the chemical Rydlyme that remain unused and stored on Saipan and Rota.
CUC executive director Antonio Muña told Saipan Tribune that they are planning to use Rydlyme, a de-scalant chemical, on one of the engines that are operational now at the Lower Base power plant.
“We are going to use it. We still have supplies on Rota and on Saipan,” Muña said.
Rydlyme, produced by Apex Engineering Products Corp., is intended to dissolve water scale deposits in cooling passages without dismantling the equipment or pipes.
CUC’s alleged questionable purchase of thousands of gallons of Rydlyme has led to the indictment of Lt. Gov. Timothy Villagomez, his sister Joaquina Villagomez Santos, her husband James Santos, and former CUC executive director Anthony Guerrero.
According to the indictment, of the 8,175 gallons of Rydlyme that remain unused, at least 1,485 gallons are in storage on Rota.
CUC reportedly experienced damage to some equipment during the 1998 to 2000 purchase of the chemical.
Despite the presence of the chemical in a storage room on Rota, the indictment stated that CUC purchased an additional 3,000 gallons in 2007, using sole-source emergency purchase.
Muña said he is not sure how much gallons of Rydlyme are still in CUC’s possession, but that he is sure they are going to transfer the chemicals from Rota to Saipan because of their plan to use it in improving the reliability of the power engines.
Muña said there was a decision made before at CUC to use water in the engines and that had created problems since well water has lots of minerals and is salty. He said the well water created a lot of residue in the engines. When the water evaporates, mineral wastes are left behind in the engines.
“Rydlyme is supposed to assist in cleaning that up. And we do plan to use it,” he said.
Muña said CUC has now moved from using well water to treated water or rainwater.
