Specific vs Cation Conductivity

A. Conductivity – Conductivity is the measurement of a liquid’s ability to transfer electrical current.

In power plants, conductivity instruments are used to measure contaminants (consisting primarily of
mineral salts) in high-purity water. Air intrusion into surface condensers, and the injection of other
treatment chemicals such as ammonia, amines, etc., however, can affect conductivity. These
instruments cannot differentiate between minerals and gases.

There are two types of conductivity measurements: specific and cation. Specific conductivity can
detect only large amounts of contaminants. Condenser tube leaks normally start out very small, and
may increase over time. For example, condensate flow may be 5,000 gpm, and the “leak” 0.1 gpm.
On a volumetric basis, this is 20 ppm. Specific conductance instruments may not be able to detect
this small leak unless the cooling water conductivity is very high to start.

Cation conductivity instruments pass the condensate sample through a cation (ion exchange) resin
to convert cations (sodium, calcium, etc.) to the hydrogen form, producing an acidic effluent. Since
acids are much more conductive than mineral salt solutions, the effective sensitivity is increased
dramatically. The generally accepted lowest detection limit (LDL) is 0.05 microsiemens per
centimeter (μS/cm). With such sensitivity, cation conductivity can be a very useful measurement to
detect condenser tube leaks.