a tdtta•

- uiW s •

:,:cale

-_ua--- ""nte r

wall of the boiler

sludge ___,_

r. .-.atiofl in boilers
wall Clf t.he-
bC1i le-r heat . (b) scnl~Jo,••·

(a) Shultt/""1fllliD" ilf. t,oiJO! , . •.,. boil~rs

,.,,,a11on
0
Fig. 2.5 SfJUlge ot1d JcOUJ'
Reasons for the formation of scaJes : wgb teJJlP" rature and pressu re present in the
1) I)eroRlposilion of ea(BCO,), : vue 10 the I an msoJuble salt, fopns scale in \ow
to caCO 3 -.v ,
boiler>, the Ca(HCO,), salt decoroPoses
. · b pressure b ·iers.
01

!l htg
pressure boilers. CaCO3 is soluble JD lI O + CO2 j
Ca(HC03)2 CaC03 + z
. ble in cold water and less souble in h
(scale)
1 1
2) l)ecomposition of caSO : caSO, JJlOre sou nire of the boiler
JS . mcreases
. and precip'
. ta Ot
4
water. Hence its solubility c1ecreases f th b iler The solubility of CaSO 4 is 3200 tes
as the teII1Pera
---+
O
out to produce hard scale on the sw,ace o e · PPtn
at 15 "C, reduces to 27 ppm at 320 oC and coJJ1pletelY insoluble in super heated water in high

pressure boilers. This is the main reason for the formation of scales in high pressure boilers.
CaSO, scale is very hard, highly adherent and difficult to remove.
3) Hydrolysis of Magnesium salts : Dissolved magnesium salts undergo hydrolysis at hi h
temperature prevailing inside the boiler forming magnesium hydroxide precipitate, wh!h
.
MgC/ + 2H O Mg(OH)2 J, + 2HC/
2 2

4) or
Presence of silica
magnesium : SiOz(Mgs1·0)
silicate present even
Thin small
d quantiti
. . es, depos1ts
. as calcmm
. silicate (CaSiO )
remove. , · e epos1ts for m hard scale and are very difftcult ito

Disadvantages of scaJe formation :

The following are the d.isadvantages of al
1) Wastage of fueJ . S al sc e formation.
. c es are bad d
boiler to inside w
A TEX- - - ~
. con uctors of hea d
ater is decreased, hence excessi ht ue to which the flow of heal frui
TBOOK OF ENG !NEERING CHEM- - ve eating is re quued
. which
. increasestti
ISTRY - ,1 t 2J4 I