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Steam Theory Flash Steam

1. Basics of Steam Flash steam is a name given to the
Contents:
steam formed from hot condensate
What is Steam? when the pressure is reduced.
1. What causes Flash Steam?

Principal Applications for Steam
Types of Steam
Flash Steam
How to Read a Steam Table
2. Steam Heating
3. Basics of Steam Traps
4. Steam Trap Selection
5. Steam Trap Problems
6. Steam Trap Management
Flash steam is no different from normal a. Additional Note
steam, it is just a convenient name 2. Calculating the % Flash Steam
used to explain how the steam is Generated
formed. Normal or “live” steam is 3. Volume of Flash Steam generated
produced at a boiler, steam generator, a. Calculating Flash to Condensate
or waste heat recovery generator – Ratio (Metric)
whereas flash steam occurs when high
b. Calculating Flash to Condensate
pressure / high temperature condensate
Ratio (Imperial)
is exposed to a large pressure drop
4. What to Do With Flash Steam?
such as when exiting a steam trap.
High temperature condensate contains
an excess of energy which prevents it
from remaining in liquid form at a lower pressure. The result is that the excess energy
causes a percentage of the condensate to flash.

7. Water Hammer
Flash Evaporation During Condensate Discharge
8. Risk Mitigation

9. Steam Quality

10. Steam Distribution

11. Condensate Recovery

12. Energy Efficiency

13. Compressed Air / Gas

14. Other Valves

Condensate discharged out of the orifice of a trap partially evaporates (flash evaporation)
due to the pressure difference (illustration).

What causes Flash Steam?

Flash steam occurs because the saturation point of water varies according to pressure.
For example, the saturation point of water is 100 °C (212 °F) at atmospheric pressure,
but is 184 °C (363 °F) at 1.0 MPaG (145 psig).

So what happens when condensate kept under pressure at 184 °C (363 °F) is released
to atmosphere? The condensate contains too much energy (enthalpy) to remain
entirely liquid, and a portion of it evaporates, causing the temperature of the
remaining condensate to drop to the saturation temperature (i.e., 100 °C or 212 °F if
discharging to atmosphere). This phenomenon is known as flash evaporation.

In other words, when hot condensate is discharged into a lower pressure

environment, its enthalpy (total energy) remains the same, but its saturation point
drops (the temperature at which condensate can exist in both the liquid and gaseous

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state). To compensate for the excess amount of energy, part of the water molecules
absorb the excess energy as latent heat and evaporate to form steam.

Additional Note

One of the first things that come to mind when visualizing flash steam are the steam
clouds that can appear outside a non-sub-cooling trap releasing to atmosphere. These
steam clouds can often be misinterpreted as a live steam leak when in fact they are
simply comprised of flashed condensate with fine water droplets in suspension, caused
by the flashing of hot condensate being released to atmosphere.

For a more detailed explanation, please read the article: Is My Trap Leaking Live
Steam?.

Calculating the % Flash Steam Generated

The % of flash steam generated (flash steam ratio) can be calculated from:

where:

hf1 = Specific Enthalpy of Saturated Water at Inlet*

hf2 = Specific Enthalpy of Saturated Water at Outlet
hfg2 = Latent Heat of Saturated Steam at Outlet
*
In traps designed to have a significant amount of sub-cooling of the condensate
before discharge, the sensible heat of condensate at the trap inlet can be significantly
lower than when estimated using inlet pressure saturated steam values.

As seen in the below examples, a higher % of flash steam is generated when

condensate is discharged to atmosphere (example 1) compared to when it is
discharged into a closed return system (example 2):

SI Units Imperial Units

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Tip Use TLV's online Engineering Calculator for

quick and accurate calculation of:

Flash Steam Generated by Hot Condensate.

Access Now

Volume of Flash Steam generated

Steam is much less dense than water, which means that a small increase in the
percentage of flash steam generated can appear as a large increase in volume of
steam generated. The animation below shows the difference in ratio of steam to
condensate for examples 1 and 2 (see above) when applied to condensate return
piping.

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The greater the pressure difference, the larger the amount of flash steam generated at
discharge.

To understand with great detail, the specific volume of condensate at 100 °C (212 °F)
3 3
is 0.00104 m /kg (0.0167 ft /lb), and the specific volume of atmospheric steam is
3 3
1.67 m /kg (26.8 ft /lb). When high temperature condensate at 1.0 MPaG (145 psig)
is discharged to lower pressure such as atmosphere, 16.1% by mass of that
condensate flashes into steam. The resulting volumetric ratio can be contrasted as
follows:

Calculating Flash to Condensate Ratio (Metric)

3
Condensate Volume: (1 - 16.1%) x 0.00104 m /kg =
3
0.000873 m /kg
3 3
Steam Volume: 16.1% x 1.67 m /kg = 0.269 m /kg
3
Flash to Condensate Ratio: 0.269 m /kg / 0.000873
3
m /kg = 308:1

Calculating Flash to Condensate Ratio (Imperial)

3
Condensate Volume: (1 - 16.1%) x 0.0167 ft /lb = 0.0140
ft3/lb
3 3
Steam Volume: 16.1% x 26.8 ft /lb = 4.31 ft /lb
3
Flash to Condensate Ratio: 4.31 ft /lb / 0.0140
3
ft /lb = 308:1

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What to Do With Flash Steam?

The vapor cloud formed by flash steam is a natural by-product of condensate
discharge. Since flash steam is of the same quality as live steam, modern facilities
often try to reuse significant amounts of flash steam whenever possible.

Reusing flash steam generated by a higher pressure system for use in a lower
pressure system can enable considerable energy savings in addition to improving a
plant's working environment by reducing vapor clouds. When trying to implement a
waste heat management system, condensate recovery systems and flash steam
recovery systems are often evaluated together as a pair.

Example of Flash Steam Recovery System

Flash steam from a high pressure system is recovered into a flash tank and reused as steam
in a low pressure system.

Types of Steam How to Read a Steam Table

Also on TLV.com

Services
Steam and Condensate Training Seminars
Flash Steam Generated by Hot Condensate
Steam Compressor
Steam Bulletin: Archive - Email Magazine

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