1/15/2019 The Importance of Condensate Return Treatment - WaterWorld

THE IMPORTANCE OF
CONDENSATE RETURN
TREATMENT
October 1, 2015

By Brad Buecker

In the power industry it is well known (although sometimes not as well known as it should be)
that condensed steam from the turbine/generator must be maintained at high purity to prevent
corrosion and scale formation in the boiler(s). Tube leaks in water-cooled condensers, impurity
ingress from makeup system upsets, and contaminated chemical feed can introduce harmful
constituents to boilers, which can cause serious-to-catastrophic damage.

But what about condensate return at other industrial facilities, where most or all of the steam
is utilized for process heating, and where the steam generators may be at lower pressure than
typical utility boilers? Greater impurity concentrations can be tolerated in lower pressure
boilers, but that is not a free ticket to operate these units without any consideration for
condensate return purity. Yet often, as the author can directly attest, plant personnel focus on
process issues and pay less attention to water/steam chemistry, although upsets and failures
due to lack of knowledge or neglect have caused costly failures at many facilities. With the aid
of several case histories, this article outlines important concepts regarding condensate return
treatment.

Case History: Chemical Production Facility

A number of years ago, a colleague and I inspected the steam generation system at an organic
chemicals production facility. Most of the steam produced for process heat exchange was
returned as condensate to the boilers. The primary units were four 550 psi package boilers
with superheaters. At the time of our visit, utility personnel were replacing each superheater
every 1.5 to 2 years due to steam-side deposition and subsequent tube-overheat failures. Upon
inspection, we found foam issuing from boiler saturated steam sample lines. Discarded
superheater tubes were internally coated with deposits approximately 1/8” to 1/4” in depth.
Further investigation revealed that the condensate return to the steam generators at times

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contained up to 200 parts per million (ppm) total organic carbon (TOC). ASME guidelines for
boilers at these pressures recommend a maximum feedwater TOC of 0.5 ppm.1

This example illustrates that impurities that reach boilers may not just affect the boiler proper
but can cause serious dif culties in the steam system. Steam-side fouling is especially
worrisome at those plants where steam also drives turbines, and in particular those that
generate power. Consider the recommended normal limits shown below for steam purity in
power-generating turbines:

These same guidelines are appropriate at large industrial facilities with steam-driven turbines.

Case History: Utility Boiler

This history comes from a utility boiler, but one that operates at a pressure well within range of
many large industrial steam generators. The 1,250 psig coal- red boiler and 80 MW electrical
generator had just been returned to service from a scheduled autumn outage. Laboratory
personnel, including the author, discovered that a condenser leak was allowing contaminants
to enter the system such that condensate total-dissolved-solids (TDS) concentrations at times
reached 0.75 ppm. Although the lab staff requested immediate unit shutdown, operations
management refused due to planned power sales. The boiler was on phosphate treatment, so
the lab personnel increased monitoring frequency and maintained phosphate and pH levels
within recommended guidelines. After approximately three weeks, operators discovered the
source of the leak and corrected the problem. Two months later, boiler waterwall tubes began
to fail with alarming frequency. The unit came off numerous times for tube repairs, and in at
least one instance had only been back on-line for a few hours when another tube failed. The
failures happened so regularly that plant management scheduled an emergency tube
replacement during the upcoming spring outage. The repairs cost over $2,000,000.

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Fig. 1. Tube failure due to hydrogen damage. Note the thick-

lipped failure with little metal loss. Photo courtesy of ChemTreat.
This second case history graphically illustrates the problems that inorganic contaminants can
cause in steam generators. Process uids, and especially raw cooling water, contain a wide
variety of impurities that may include calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, sulfate, alkalinity,
silica, and other deleterious compounds. In this case, and as has occurred in many steam
generators, chloride concentration under deposits led to hydrogen damage, a very insidious
mechanism.2 Hydrogen damage is very dif cult to detect and impossible to correct (see Fig. 1).

Case History: General

At many plants, steam pressures may be well under 600 psi and are often only around 100 psi.
The corrosion mechanisms outlined above are much less severe and may be virtually non-
existent at these lower pressures. Because high-purity makeup water is not needed for low-
pressure boilers, sometimes the primary makeup treatment method is simple softening to
remove hardness. But other impurities remain in the water that enters the steam generator,
including bicarbonate alkalinity (HCO3-). Heat will convert much of this alkalinity to carbon
dioxide (CO2), which carries over with steam. As the steam condenses during passage through
heat exchangers, the carbon dioxide redissolves to form carbonic acid (H2CO3) that can
damage carbon steel piping and other equipment.

Condensate Return Treatment Methods

So, how do we minimize corrosion in industrial water/steam systems? A variety of techniques
are available for particulate removal. Multimedia ltration (MMF) with various grades of sand
as the core material is one possibility. Metal screen lters with automatic backwash represent
another technology. In some cases, very ne particulates may enter or be generated in the
system, and may not be well captured by MMF or screen lters. In this case, the membrane
technologies of micro- or ultra ltration (MF and UF, respectively) may work well. MF and UF
have become very popular for makeup water pre-treatment.3 One well-proven micro lter
design utilizes pressure vessels containing thousands of spaghetti-like hollow- ber membranes
that easily lter sub-micron particles (see Fig. 2).

In a unit that I helped to install over ten years ago for makeup treatment at a power-generating
station, not one membrane has failed since initial startup.

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Fig. 2. Cutaway view of a micro lter pressure vessel

showing the many hollow ber membranes. Photo
courtesy of Pall Corp.
With regard to ion exchange, this is a potential treatment method to remove dissolved solids
from condensate return. In brief, a deep bed ion exchange vessel contains millions of small,
spherical beads to which exchange groups are attached (see Fig. 3).

A variety of resins/exchange groups exist, some for specialty applications, but typically resins
are chosen to remove common cations (e.g., calcium, magnesium, and sodium) and common
anions (e.g., chloride, sulfate, and alkalinity).

Organic impurities can present challenges. If the organics are large or have a charge, activated
carbon ltration may be quite effective for removal. However, if the organics are small and
uncharged, they may easily pass through this material. One possible solution is treatment with
resins, similar to those outlined above but with no functional groups. In this case, the organics
collect within and on the resins.

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Fig. 3. Variously-sized resin beads. Photo

courtesy of U.S. Water.
With regard to carbonic acid corrosion mentioned earlier, two possibilities to control it in the
condensate are either with neutralizing or lming amines. Amines, and particularly neutralizing
amines, can essentially be thought of as ammonia attached to a short carbon chain. The carbon
chain length and supplementary functional groups can be modi ed to make neutralizing amines
more or less basic than ammonia. Filming amines perform as the name implies. The organic
chain is rather longer than in neutralizing amines, and the chemicals attach to metal surfaces to
form a protective layer. In the past, chemists, operators, and other personnel have at times
experienced dif culties with lming amines, as improper application or chemical selection can
lead to sticky deposit (gunk ball) formation in water systems. However, the technology is
improving. In fact, several successful applications of lming amine use in utility steam
generating systems have been recently reported.

Another approach to carbonic acid corrosion involves makeup water treatment. Rather than
simply softening the water, reverse osmosis (RO) could be employed. Even simple RO can
remove 99 percent of dissolved ions in makeup water, including alkalinity. Thus CO2 carryover
to steam is minimized. For those who may be considering RO, two issues stand out: RO requires
signi cant pretreatment to minimize suspended solids intrusion (MF and UF are often good
choices); and, a typical RO only processes about 75 percent of the incoming makeup. The other
25 percent represents a waste stream.

This article concludes with a nal case history that illustrates the importance of proper steam
generator design.

Case History: Steam Generator Design

The author spent two years at a chemical process facility. During that time, management
decided to switch from imported steam to on-site steam production. Plant engineers who
prepared the steam generator speci cations outlined a broad scope, leaving the detailed
system design primarily in the hands of the boiler manufacturer. An immediate dif culty with
this approach appeared upon startup of the system, as steam quality (ratio of steam to water)

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was signi cantly lower than that needed for the process equipment. Selection of steam
generators and design of steam piping systems, including control valves, steam traps, and
piping sizes/materials, must be meticulous to ensure smooth startups and long life.

About the Author: Brad Buecker is a process specialist in the Process Engineering and
Permitting Group of Kiewit Engineering and Design Company (Lenexa, Kans.) He has over
three decades of experience in, or af liated with, the power industry (and additional direct
experience in the chemical process industry), much of it in steam generation chemistry, water
treatment, air quality control, and results engineering positions with City Water, Light & Power
(Spring eld, Ill.) and Kansas City Power & Light Company’s (La Cygne, Kans.) station.

References
1. Consensus on Operating Practices for the Control of Feedwater and Boiler Water Chemistry
in Modern Industrial Boilers, CRTD-Vol. 34, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
New York, NY, 1994.

2. Buecker, B. and S. Shulder. “Power Plant Cycle Chemistry Fundamentals,” pre-conference

seminar of the 35th Annual Electric Utility Chemistry Workshop, June 2-4, 2015, Champaign,
Illinois.

3. B. Buecker. “Micro ltration and Reverse Osmosis: A Winning Combination for Plant Makeup
Water Treatment,” Energy-Tech, September 2009.

4. D.L. Owens. Practical Principles of Ion Exchange Water Treatment, Tall Oaks Publishing,
Littleton, Colorado, 1995.

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