Boiler water – Feed water standard

Water tube Boiler water and Feedwater quality requirement

1. Scope

This part of this European Standard applies to all shell boilers as defined in EN
12952-12 which are heated by combustion of one or more fuels or by hot gases for the
generation of steam and/or hot water

2. Standard reference

They are based on long-term experience in practice and on the minimum

requirements, blinding in terms of safety technology, given in EN 12952 part 12 for the
reduction of :

 Corrosion risks

 Sludge elimination

 Formation of deposits

3. Term and definitions

For the purpose of this part of this European Standard, the terms and definitions
given in EN 12952 and the following definitions apply:

3.1. Direct conductivity : Direct measured conductivity of water

3.2. Acid conductivity : Conductivity of water measured in the hydrogen ion

concentration from continuously flow through downstream of a strongly acidic cation
exchanger

3.3. Make up water : Water which compensates for losses of water and
steam from the system

3.4. Feedwater : Mixture of returned condensate and/or make up water

supplied to the boiler inlet

3.5. Demineralized feedwater : Water with an electrolyte content according

to an acid conductivity of <0.2 mS/cm and a silica content (SiO2) < 0.02 mg/l

3.6. Boiler water : Water within a natural or assisted circulation boiler

3.7. Attemperator spray water : Water for injection to control steam

temperature
 Boiler water – Feed water standard

4. Requirements

4.1. Table 1 : Requirement for the feedwater

EN 12952-12 Table 5-1 - Feedwater for steam boilers and hot water boilers with natural and forced circulation

Feedw ater and

Param eter Unit Feedw ater w ith solid content spray-w ater salt- Make-up w ater for hot w ater boiler
free

Operating pressure Barg > 0.5 to 20 > 20 to 40 > 40 to 100 total range total range

Appearance ─ clear, free from suspended solids

not specified, only guide values relevant for boiler w ater not specified, only guide values relevant
Direct conductivily at 25°C µS/cm ─
see table 5-2 for boiler w ater see table 5-2
Acid conductivily at 25°C a µS/cm ─ ─ ─ < 0.2 ─
pH value at 25°C b ─ > 9.2 c > 9.2 > 9.2 > 9.2 d > 7.0
Total hardness (Ca + Mg) mmol/l < 0.02 e < 0.01 < 0.005 ─ < 0.05
Sodium and potassium (Na + K)
mg/l ─ ─ ─ < 0.010 ─
concentration
Iron (Fe) concentration mg/l < 0.050 < 0.030 < 0.020 < 0.020 < 0.2
Copper (Cu) concentration mg/l < 0.020 < 0.010 < 0.003 < 0.003 < 0.1
not specified, only guide values relevant for boiler w ater see
Silica (SiO2) concentration mg/l < 0.020 ─
table 5-2
f
Oxygen (O2) concentration mg/l < 0.020 < 0.020 < 0.020 < 0.1 ─
Oil/grease concentration (see EN 12952-7) mg/l <1 < 0.5 < 0.5 < 0.5 <1
Organic substance (as TOC) concentration mg/l see footnote h < 0.5 g < 0.2 see footnote h
Alternate permanganate-index mg/l 5 5 3 6 ─

a The Influence of organic conditioning agents shall be respected complementarily.

b With copper alloys in the system the pH value shall be maintained in the range 8.7 to 9.2
c With softened w ater pH value > 7.0 the pH value of boiler w ater according to table 5-2 should be considered.
d volatile alkalizing agents only for the spray w ater
e At operating pressure < 1 bar total hardness max. 0.05 mmol/l shall be acceptable.
f Instead of observing this value at intermittent operation w ithout deaerator if film forming agents and/or excess of oxygen scavenger shall be used.
g At operating pressure > 60 bar TOC < 0.2 mg/l shall be advised.
h Organic substances are generally a mixture of several different compounds. The combosition of such mixtures and the behaviour of their individual components under the conditions of
boiler operation are difficult to predict. Organic substances may be decomposed to form carbonic acid or other acidic decomposition products w hich increase the acid conductivity and
cause corrosion or deposits. They also may lead to foaming and/or priming w hich shell be kept as low as possible.
Boiler water – Feed water standard

4.2. Table 2: Requirement for the boilerwater

EN 12952-12 Table 5-2 - Boiler water for steam boilers and hot water boilers

Boiler w ater for steam boiler

Solfned Feedw ater Boiler w ater for hot

Param eter Unit Feedw ater w ith solved solidsor steam boiler
Acid conductivily < 0.2 µS/cm w ater boiler

Direct conductivily Direct conductivily alkaliizing to the boiler w ater

AVT-treatment
> 30 µS/cm ≤ 30 µS/cm w ith hard alkelizing agents

Operating pressure Barg > 0.5 to 20 > 20 to 40 > 40 to 60 > 0.5 to 60 > 60 to 100 ≤ 100 > 100 total range total range
Appearance ─ clear, no stable foam

values relevant see

Direct conductivily at 25°C µS/cm see Figure 5.1 b < 100 < 30 ─ < 1500
Figure 5-2

Acid conductivily at 25°C a < 30

─ w ithout dosing of phosphate µS/cm ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ < 50 <5c ─
─ w ith dosing of phosphate < 40

pH value at 25°C b ─ 10.5 to 12.0 10.5 to 11.8 10.3 to 11.5 10.0 to 11.0 9.8 to 10.5 9.5 to 10.5 9.3 to 9.7 > 8.0 d 9.0 to 11.5 e
Alkalinity mmol/l 1 to 15 b 1 to 10 b 0.5 to 5 b 0.1 to 1.0 0.1 to 0.3 0.05 to 0.3 ─ ─ <5
Silica (SiO2) concentration mg/l pressure dependent, see Figure 5.3 or 5.4 ─
Phosphate (PO4) concentration mg/l 10 to 20 8 to 15 8 to 15 5 to 10 <6 <6 <3 ─ ─
Organic substance concentration mg/l see footnote h

a Without conditioning agent

b With superheater consider 50% of the indicated upper value as maximum value.
c Acid conductivly < 3, if heat flux > 250 kW/m3
d pH value adjustment into boiler w ater and should be ≥ 8.5 by operating pressure range > 60 bar.
If non-ferrous materials are present in the system o. g. aluminium, they may require low er pH value and
e
direct conductivily, how ever, the protection of the boiler has priority.

f If coordinated phosphate treatment is used, considering all other values higher PO4-concentrations are acceptabic (see also clause 4).
g See table 5.1

Note
 The oxygen in the feed water must be reduced primarily using physical
processes, e.g. thermal pressure deaeration, to the described limit values. Because in
practical operation, partly through frequent down times, start up and run down processes
etc. and with partial deaeration systems, compliance with the limit value is not guaranteed
using deaeration alone, an oxygen binder should be added. Non-volatile sodium sulphite,
for example, has proved effective-there are no hygienic / toxicological restructions Addition
to the feed water should be carried out in such a way that the limit values for the boiler
water are maintained. The need for this and the choice of a suitable dosing agent must be
decided in each individual case.

 In addition to the electrical conductivity, the silicon dioxide content (SiO2)

and the pH are important parameters, and their maximum values must not be exceeded in
the boiler. If one of these values is reached because of thickening in the boiler before the
maximum conductivity value, this is then decisive for desalting. Because the desalting is
regulated via a conductivity measurement, the corresponding conductivity value at which
one of the named parameters reaches its permitted maximum value replaces the
conductivity limit value shown in table 2. The values given in table 2 are the maximum
permitted conductivity values. For some plants in which the conductivity is incorporated into
the safety chain, when these value are reached (at the latest), the firing is switched off and
Boiler water – Feed water standard

locked, i.e. the conductivity to regulated is to be set with a sufficient distance from the limit
value . If unusually pure steam is needed, it may be under some circumstances that the
maximum conductivity values in the boiler water need to be lowered for this special case.

5. Test of water and steam sampling

To ensure the appropriate chemical conditions prevail, Quality parameters shall

be checked on a continuous and/or periodical basis. Which recommend to checked at least
every 72 hours ( Note: By using reliable continuous recording analyzers the frequency of manual checks of
the water quality cab be reduced)

The feedwater, boilerwater and Attemperator spray water in steam boilers and
the boiler water in hot water boilers shall be checked for the relevant parameters such as
pH, direct conductivity, acid conductivity, hardness and oxygen of oxygen scavenger.

The sampling of water and steam from the boiler system shall be performed in
accordance with ISO 5667-1 and the preparation and handing of samples in accordance
with ISO 5667-3.

Sampling points:

 Feedwater from the inlet valve to boiler

 Boiler water from a downcomer or from a continuous surface blow down

line.

 Make up water downstream of the makeup water treatment plant or

storage tanks.

 Condensate at outlet of the condenser, if any : otherwise the condensate

shall be sampled at a point as near to the feed tank as possible.
Boiler water – Feed water standard
Boiler water – Feed water standard