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Boiler feedwater
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Boiler feedwater is an essential part of

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boiler operations. The feed water is put

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in to the steam drum from a feed pump.

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In the steam drum the feed water is then

turned into steam from the heat. After
the steam is used it is then dumped to
the main condenser. From the

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condenser it is then pumped to the

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deaerated feed tank. From this tank it

Extreme Boiler Scale buildup

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then goes back to the steam drum to

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complete its cycle. The feed water is

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never open to the atmosphere. This cycle is known as a closed system or

Rankine cycle.

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1 History of feedwater treatment

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2 Characteristics of boiler feedwater

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3 Boiler feedwater treatment

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4 Deaeration of feed water

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5 Conditioning

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5.1 Boiler corrosion

5.2 Fouling

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5.3 Caustic embrittlement

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5.4 Priming and foaming

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6 Locomotive boilers
7 See also

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8 References

9 External links

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History of feedwater treatment

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During the early development of boilers, water treatment was not so much of an

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[ edit ]

issue, as temperatures and pressures were so low that high amounts of scale
and rust would not form to such a high amount, especially if the boiler was
cleaned and/or blown down. It was general practice though, to install zinc
plates and/or alkaline chemicals to reduce corrosion within the boiler. Many
tests had been performed to try to determine the cause and possible protection
from corrosion in boilers using distilled water, various chemicals, and sacrificial
metals.[1] Silver nitrate can be added to feedwater samples in order to detect

contamination by seawater. Use of lime for alkalinity control had been

mentioned as early as 1900, and was used by the French and British Navies up
until about 1935.[2] In modern boilers though, treatment of boiler feedwater is
extremely critical, as many problems can result from the use of untreated water
in extreme pressure and temperature environments; this includes lower
efficiency in terms of heat transfer, overheating, damage, and high costs of
cleaning.

Characteristics of boiler feedwater

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Water absorbs more heat than any other substance at a given temperature
change. This quality makes it an ideal raw material for boiler operations. Boilers
are part of a closed system as compared to open systems in a gas turbine. The
closed system that is used is the Rankine cycle. This means that the water is
recirculated throughout the system and is never in contact with the atmosphere.
The water is reused and needs to be treated to continue efficient operations.
Boiler water must be treated in order to be proficient in producing steam. Boiler
water is treated to prevent scaling, corrosion, foaming, and priming. Chemicals
are put in to boiler water through the chemical feed tank to keep the water
within chemical range. These chemicals are mostly oxygen scavengers and
phosphates. The boiler water also has frequent blowdowns in order to keep the
chloride content down. The boiler operations also include bottom blows in order
to get rid of solids. Scale is precipitated impurities out of the water and then
forms on heat transfer surfaces. This is a problem because scale does not
transfer heat very well and causes the tubes to fail by getting too hot. Corrosion
is caused by oxygen in the water. The oxygen causes the metal to oxidize which
lowers the melting point of the metal. Foaming and priming is caused when the
boiler water does not have the correct amount of chemicals and there are
suspended solids in the water which carry over in the dry pipe. The dry pipe is
where the steam and water mixture are separated.

Boiler feedwater treatment

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Boiler water treatment is used to control alkalinity, prevent scaling, correct pH,
and to control conductivity. The boiler water needs to be alkaline and not acidic,
so that it does not ruin the tubes. There can be too much conductivity in the
feed water when there are too many dissolved solids. These correct treatments
can be controlled by efficient operator and use of treatment chemicals. The
main objectives to treat and condition boiler water is to exchange heat without
scaling, protect against scaling, and produce high quality steam. The treatment
of boiler water can be put in to two parts. These are internal treatment and
external treatment. (Sendelbach, p. 131)[3] The internal treatment is for boiler
feed water and external treatment is for make-up feed water and the
condensate part of the system. Internal treatment protects against feed water
hardness by preventing precipitating of scale on the boiler tubes. This treatment
also protects against concentrations of dissolved and suspended solids in the
feed water without priming or foaming. These treatment chemicals also help

with the alkalinity of the feed water making it more of a base to help protect
against boiler corrosion. The correct alkalinity is protected by adding
phosphates. These phosphates precipitate the solids to the bottom of the boiler
drum. At the bottom of the boiler drum there is a bottom blow to remove these
solids. These chemicals also include anti-scaling agents, oxygen scavengers,
and anti-foaming agents. Sludge can also be treated by two approaches. These
are by coagulation and dispersion. When there is a high amount of sludge
content it is better to coagulate the sludge to form large particles in order to just
use the bottom blow to remove them from the feed water. When there is a low
amount of sludge content it is better to use dispersants because it disperses the
sludge throughout the feed water so sludge does not form.

Deaeration of feed water

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Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide are removed from the feed water by deaeration.
Deaeration can be accomplished by using deaerators heaters, vacuum
deaerators, mechanical pumps, and steam-jet ejectors. In deaerating heaters
steam sprays incoming feed water and carries away the dissolved gases. The
deaerators also store hot feed water which is ready to be used in the boiler.
This means of mechanical deaeration is also used with chemical oxygen
scavenging agents to increase efficiency. (Sendelbach, p. 129)[3] Deaerating
heaters can be classified in to two groups. The two deaerating heaters are
spray types and tray types. With tray type deaerating heaters the incoming
water is sprayed into steam atmosphere in order to reach saturation
temperature. When the saturation temperature is reached most of the oxygen
and non-condensable gases are released. There are seals that prevent the
recontamination of the water in the spray section. The water then falls to the
storage tank below. The non-condensables and oxygen are then vented to the
atmosphere. The components of the tray type deaerating heater are a shell,
spray nozzles, direct contact vent condenser, tray stacks, and protective
interchamber walls. The spray type deaerater is very similar to the tray type
deaerater. The water is sprayed into a steam atmosphere and most of the
oxygen and non-condensables are released to the steam. The water then falls
to the steam scrubber where the slight pressure loss causes the water to flash a
little bit which also helps with the removal of oxygen and non-condensables.
The water then overflows to the storage tank. The gases are then vented to the
atmosphere. With vacuum deaeration a vacuum is applied to the system and
water is then brought to its saturation temperature. The water is sprayed in to
the tank just like the spray and tray deaeraters. The oxygen and noncondensables are vented to the atmosphere.(Sendelbach, p. 130)

Conditioning

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The feedwater must be specially treated

to avoid problems in the boiler and
downstream systems. Untreated boiler
feed water can cause corrosion and
fouling.

Boiler corrosion

[ edit ]

Corrosive compounds, especially O2 and

CO2 must be removed, usually by use of

Large cation/anion ion exchangers

used in demineralization of boiler

a deaerator. Residual amounts can be

feedwater.[4]

removed chemically, by use of oxygen

scavengers. Additionally, feed water is
typically alkalized to a pH of 9.0 or higher, to reduce oxidation and to support
the formation of a stable layer of magnetite on the water-side surface of the
boiler, protecting the material underneath from further corrosion. This is usually
done by dosing alkaline agents into the feed water, such as sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda) or ammonia. Corrosion in boilers is due to the presence of
dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide, or dissolved salts.

Fouling

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Deposits reduce the heat transfer in the boiler, reduce the flow rate and
eventually block boiler tubes. Any non-volatile salts and minerals that will remain
when the feedwater is evaporated must be removed, because they will become
concentrated in the liquid phase and require excessive "blow-down" (draining)
to prevent the formation of solid precipitates. Even worse are minerals that form
scale. Therefore, the make-up water added to replace any losses of feedwater
must be demineralized/deionized water, unless a purge valve is used to remove
dissolved minerals.

Caustic embrittlement

[ edit ]

Main article: Caustic embrittlement

Priming and foaming

[ edit ]

Main article: Priming (steam engine)

Locomotive boilers

[ edit ]

Steam locomotives usually do not have condensers so the feedwater is not

recycled and water consumption is high. The use of deionized water would be
prohibitively expensive so other types of water treatment are used. Chemicals
employed typically include sodium carbonate, sodium bisulfite, tannin,
phosphate and an anti-foaming agent.[5]
Treatment systems have included:

Alfloc, developed by British Railways and Imperial Chemical Industries [6]

Traitement Integral Armand (TIA), developed by Louis Armand
Porta Treatment, developed by Livio Dante Porta

See also

[7]

[ edit ]

Boiler feedwater pump

Evaporator
Helamin

References

[ edit ]

1. ^ Lyon,Frank. Hinds, A.W.. Marine And Naval Boilers. (1912). The Lord
Baltimore Press.
2. ^ Osbourne, Alan. Modern Marine Engineers Manual. (1965). Cornell Maritime
Press, inc.
3. ^

a b

Sendelbach, M. (1988). Boiler-water treatment: Why, what and how.

Chemical Engineering, 95(11), 127.

4. ^ Mischissin, Stephen G. (7 February 2012). "University of Rochester Investigation of Steam Turbine Extraction Line Failures"

(PDF) . Arlington, VA.

pp. 2526. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

5. ^ Bane, M. (11 December 2006). "Porta Treatment Internal Boiler Water
Treatment for the 21st Century"

(PDF) . Developments in Modern Steam

Traction for Railways. York, UK. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

6. ^ Bane, Martyn. "Modern Steam Glossary"

. Martyn Bane's steam and travel

pages. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

7. ^ "Porta Treatment: Advanced Internal Boiler Water Treatment"

. 18 October

2007. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

Shun'an, C. , Qing, Z. , & Zhixin, Z. (2008). A study of the influence of

chloride ion concentration on the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in
phosphate high-temperature boiler water chemistries. Anti-Corrosion
Methods and Materials, 55(1), 15-19.
Sendelbach, M. (1988). Boiler-water treatment: Why, what and how.
Chemical Engineering, 95(11), 127.
Characteristics of boiler feed water. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2015, from
http://www.lenntech.com/applications/process/boiler/boiler-feedwatercharacteristics.htm

External links

[ edit ]

Boiler Feedwater System Configuration

Categories: Power station technology
Chemical process engineering

Boilers

Steam locomotive technologies

This page was last modified on 24 May 2016, at 17:39.

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