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Boiler feedwater
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Boiler feedwater is water used to

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supply ("feed") a boiler to generate

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steam or hot water. At thermal power

stations the feedwater is usually stored,

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pre-heated and conditioned in a

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feedwater tank and supplied to the boiler

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by a boiler feedwater pump.

Contents [hide]
1 History of Feedwater treatment

Extreme Boiler Scale buildup

2 Conditioning
2.1 Boiler corrosion
2.2 Fouling
2.3 Caustic embrittlement
2.4 Priming and foaming
3 Locomotive boilers
4 See also

Permanent link

5 References

Page information

6 External links

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History of Feedwater treatment

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During the early development of boilers, water treatment was not so much of an

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issue, as temperatures and pressures were so low that high amounts of scale

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and rust would not form to such a high amount, especially if the boiler was

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cleaned and/or blown down. It was general practice though, to install zinc

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plates and/or alkaline chemicals to reduce corrosion within the boiler. Many

tests had been performed to try and determine the cause and possible

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protection from corrosion in boilers using distilled water, various chemicals, and
sacrificial metals.[1] Use of lime for alkalinity control had been mentioned as
early as 1900, and was used by the French and British Navies up until about
1935.[2] In modern boilers though, treatment of boiler feedwater is extremely
critical, as many problems can result from the use of untreated water in extreme
pressure and temperature environments; this includes lower efficiency in terms
of heat transfer, overheating, damage, and high costs of cleaning.

Conditioning

[edit]

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verification. Please help improve this article by
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(February 2014)

The feedwater must be specially treated

to avoid problems in the boiler and
downstream systems. Untreated boiler
feed water can cause corrosion and
fouling.

Boiler corrosion [edit]

Corrosive compounds, especially O2 and
CO2 must be removed, usually by use of
a deaerator. Residual amounts can be

Large cation/anion ion exchangers

used in demineralization of boiler
feedwater.[3]

removed chemically, by use of oxygen

scavengers. Additionally, feed water is
typically alkalized to a pH of 9.0 or higher, to reduce oxidation and to support
the formation of a stable layer of magnetite on the water-side surface of the
boiler, protecting the material underneath from further corrosion. This is usually
done by dosing alkaline agents into the feed water, such as sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda) or ammonia. Corrosion in boilers is due to the presence of
dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide, or dissolved salts.

Fouling [edit]
Deposits reduce the heat transfer in the boiler, reduce the flow rate and
eventually block boiler tubes. Any non-volatile salts and minerals that will remain
when the feedwater is evaporated must be removed, because they will become
concentrated in the liquid phase and require excessive "blow-down" (draining)
to prevent the formation of solid precipitates. Even worse are minerals that form
scale. Therefore, the make-up water added to replace any losses of feedwater
must be demineralized/deionized water, unless a purge valve is used to remove
dissolved minerals.

Caustic embrittlement [edit]

Main article: Caustic embrittlement

Priming and foaming [edit]

Main article: Priming (steam engine)

Locomotive boilers

[edit]

Steam locomotives usually do not have condensers so the feedwater is not

recycled and water consumption is high. The use of deionized water would be
prohibitively expensive so other types of water treatment are used. Chemicals
employed typically include sodium carbonate, sodium bisulfite, tannin,

phosphate and an anti-foaming agent.[4]

Treatment systems have included:
Alfloc, developed by British Railways and Imperial Chemical Industries [5]
Traitement Integral Armand (TIA), developed by Louis Armand
Porta Treatment, developed by Livio Dante Porta

See also

[6]

[edit]

Boiler feedwater pump

Evaporator

References

[edit]

1. ^ Lyon,Frank. Hinds, A.W.. Marine And Naval Boilers. (1912). The Lord
Baltimore Press.
2. ^ Osbourne, Alan. Modern Marine Engineers Manual. (1965). Cornell Maritime
Press, inc.
3. ^ Mischissin, Stephen G. (7 February 2012). "University of Rochester Investigation of Steam Turbine Extraction Line Failures"

. Arlington, VA.

p. 25-26. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

4. ^ Bane, M. (11 December 2006). "Porta Treatment Internal Boiler Water
Treatment for the 21st Century"

. Developments in Modern Steam Traction for

Railways. York, UK. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

5. ^ Bane, Martyn. "Modern Steam Glossary"

. Martyn Bane's steam and travel

pages. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

6. ^ "Porta Treatment: Advanced Internal Boiler Water Treatment"

. 18 October

2007. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

External links

[edit]

Boiler Feedwater System Configuration

Categories: Power station technology
Chemical process engineering

Boilers

Steam locomotive technologies

This page was last modified on 23 February 2015, at 21:14.

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