Professional Documents
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Boiler Feedwater Treatment
Boiler Feedwater Treatment
2.
Filtration
3.
4.
5.
Ion exchange
6.
Deaeration of water
7.
8.
Reverse osmosis
9.
10. Blowdown
11. Corrosion in steam condensate system
12. Care of out-of-service boilers
Filtration
Filtration is the essential first step before the chemical treatment and conditioning of the boiler
feedwater. Filtration removes or minimizes all types of suspended solid impurities. If rust, sand (silica)
etc. are not filtered out, they lead to severe scale formation, which is difficult to clean and reduce
boiler efficiency. Even the condensate feedwater must be filtered before returning to the boiler. The
boiler itself and the steam piping produce rust particles etc. due to corrosion and other reactions.
Filtration is also necessary for any water treatment process to work properly. For example, softening
resins get coated with suspended matter, loosing their effectiveness and capacity to regenerate.
Reverse osmosis membranes get fouled up leading to reduced efficiency and shorter life. If the water is
very dirty, sand filtration is first done followed by cartridge filtration.
Types of coagulants
Iron and aluminum salts such as ferric sulfate, ferric chloride, aluminum sulfate (alum), and sodium
aluminate are the most common coagulants. Ferric and alumina ions each have three positive charges
and therefore their effectiveness is related to their ability to react with the negatively charged colloidal
particles. These coagulants form a floc in the water that serves like a net for collecting suspended
matter. Polyelectrolytes, which are synthetic materials, have been developed for coagulation purposes.
These consist of long chain-like molecules with positive charges. In some cases organic polymers and
special types of clay are used in the coagulation process to serve as coagulant aids. These assist in
coagulation by making the floc heavier.
Chemical precipitation
Chemical precipitation is a process in which chemical added reacts with dissolved minerals in the
water to produce a relatively insoluble reaction product. Precipitation methods are used in reducing
dissolved hardness, alkalinity, and silica. The most common example is lime-soda treatment.
classified as hot or cold, depending on the temperature of the water. Hot process softeners increase
the rate of chemical reactions, increase silica reduction, and produce over-all better quality water.
Ion Exchange
Minerals dissolved in water form electrically charged particles called ions. Calcium carbonate, for
example, forms a calcium ion with positive charges (a cation) and a bicarbonate ion with negative
charges (an anion). Some synthetic and natural materials have the ability to remove mineral ions from
water in exchange for others. For example, in passing water through a simple cation exchange softener
all the calcium and magnesium ions are removed and replaced with sodium ions. Ion exchange resins
usually are small porous beads that compose a bed several feet deep through which the water is
passed.
Ion exchange resins have a certain capacity for removing ions from water and when their capacity is
used up they have to be regenerated. The regeneration is essentially reversing the ion exchange
process. Cation exchangers operating on the sodium cycle, salt (NaCl) is added to replenish the sodium
capacity. Resins operating on the hydrogen cycle are replenished by adding acid (H2SO4 or HCl). Anion
exchangers are normally regenerated with caustic (NaOH) or ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) to
replenish the hydroxide ions. Salt (NaCl) may also be used to regenerate anion resins in the chloride
form for dealkalization. Regeneration process involves taking the vessel off line and treating it with
concentrated solution of the regenerant. The ion exchange resin then gives up the ions previously
removed from water and these ions are rinsed out of the vessel. After the regeneration has been
completed, the vessel is ready for further service.
Split-stream softening
When the effluents from a cation exchanger operating on sodium cycle are blended with effluents from
a cation exchanger operating on a hydrogen cycle. The purpose is to reduce the alkalinity of the water.
Since the hydrogen cycle produces acid water while the sodium cycle does not affect alkalinity, the two
effluents can be blended together to give the desired reduction in alkalinity.
Dealkalization
One of the ion exchange processes for reducing water alkalinity is referred to as dealkalization. In this
process the water passes through an ion exchanger operating on the chloride cycle. The exchanger
removes alkaline anions such as carbonate, bicarbonate, and sulfates, replacing these ions with
chloride. Cation exchange softening precedes dealkalization process.
Demineralization
When the water is passed through both cation and anion exchange resins it is known as
demineralization. In this process the cation exchange is operated on the hydrogen cycle. That is,
hydrogen is substituted for all the cations. The anion exchanger operates on the hydroxide cycle,
which replaces hydroxide for all of the anions. The final effluent from the process consists essentially of
hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions or pure water. The demineralization process can be done by several
methods. In the mixed-bed process, the anion and cation exchange resins are intimately mixed in one
vessel. Multi-bed arrangements may consist of different combinations of cation exchange beds, weak
and strong-based anion exchange beds, and degasifiers.
Deaeration of water
Dissolved oxygen in water is a major cause of boiler system corrosion. It should be removed before the
water is put in the boiler. Feedwater deaeration removes oxygen by heating the water with steam in a
deaerating heater. Part of the steam is vented, carrying with it the bulk of the dissolved oxygen.
Reverse osmosis
To understand reverse osmosis (RO), one must first understand osmosis. Osmosis uses a semipermeable membrane that allows ions to pass from a more concentrated solution to a less
concentrated solution without allowing the reverse to occur. Reverse osmosis overcomes the osmotic
pressure with a higher artificial pressure to reverse the process and concentrate the dissolved solids on
one side of the membrane. Operating pressures of about 300 to 900 psi are required to achieve this.
Reverse osmosis reduces the dissolved solids of the raw water, making the final affluent ready for
further treatment. This process is suitable for any type of raw water, but sometimes the installation
and operation cost may not be economical.
To react with incoming feedwater hardness and prevent it from precipitating on the boiler
metal as scale
2.
To condition any suspended matter such as hardness sludge in the boiler and make it
nonadherent to the boiler metal
3.
4.
5.
6.
If silica is present in the feedwater, it tends to precipitate directly as scale at hot spots on the boiler
metal and or combines with calcium forming a hard calcium silicate scale. In the internal treatment for
silica, the boiler water alkalinity has to be kept high enough to hold the silica in solution. Magnesium,
present in most waters, precipitates some of the silica as sludge. Special organic materials or synthetic
polymers are used to condition magnesium silicate from adhering to the boiler metal.
Starches effective on high silica feedwater and where oil contamination is a problem
2.
3.
4.
Synthetic polymers Highly effective sludge conditioners for all types of sludges
Blowdown
Blowdown is the discharge of boiler water containing concentrated suspended and dissolved feedwater
solids. As the blowdown water is replaced with lower solids feedwater, the boiler water is diluted. With
proper regulation of blowdown, the amount of solids in the boiler water can be controlled. The amount
of blowdown needed depends on how much feedwater impurities a given boiler can tolerate. For
example if a particular boiler can tolerate 500 ppm maximum dissolved solids, and the feedwater
contains 50 ppm, it can be concentrated only about 10 times. This means that for every 100 pounds of
water fed to the boiler about 10 pounds of boiler water must be blown down to keep the dissolved
solids from exceeding 500 ppm. Total dissolved solids is not the only limiting factor in determining
blowdown, other considerations include suspended solids, alkalinity, silica and iron.
draining of lines. Deaerator can reduce oxygen to as low as 0.007 ppm. Since very small amounts of
oxygen can cause boiler and steam condensate system corrosion, chemical treatment is needed to
assure complete oxygen removal. Sodium sulfite and hydrazine chemicals are commonly used for this
purpose. Catalysts are sometimes also used to speed up the reaction.
Oil can coat metal surfaces, cut down heat transfer, and produce metal overheating
2.
Oil can cause sludge to become sticky and adhere to heat transfer surfaces
3.
Oil contamination should be completely eliminated whenever possible. Organic chemicals help
counteract the effects of small amounts of oil contamination, but not of gross contamination. When
sudden boiler water oil contamination is experienced, normal procedure is to blow down heavily to
remove oil and to check for the source of contamination. In case of severe contamination, the boiler
needs to be taken off the line and cleaned out to remove the oil from the boiler surfaces. When oil
contamination is continuous and unavoidable, some of the methods used are:
1.
Free oil can be reduced by passing the water through absorbent cartridge filters
2.
3.
4.
Flotation method
5.
Coalescence method
Index
1.
2.
Filtration
3.
4.
5.
1.
Types of coagulants
2.
Chemical precipitation
2.
3.
4.
Ion exchange
1.
2.
3.
Split-stream softening
4.
Dealkalization
5.
Demineralization
6.
7.
6.
Deaeration of water
7.
8.
Reverse osmosis
9.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
2.
2.
3.
4.