Boiler Feed Water Hardness

The treatment of boiler water can be put into two parts.

Boiler feed water hardness.

The most appropriate boiler feed water treatment system will help the facility avoid costly plant downtime expensive maintenance fees and boiler failure as a result of scaling corrosion and fouling of the. All of these salts combine to form what is known as the hardness of water with calcium and magnesium contributing the most to water hardness. For boiler water ph is maintained between 11 11 8 and that of feed water between 7 9. Boiler water is provided by the boiler feed water from the boiler as either heated water or steam.

Boiler feedwater also contains metal salts such as chlorides magnesium sulphur and calcium bicarbonates. Therefore good internal boiler water treatment programs are necessary. Feed water purity is a matter both of quantity of impurities and nature of impurities. Make water is the original raw water derived from.

Boiler feed water is made of makeup water and return condensate. If deposits of calcium and. Some impurities such as hardness iron and silica are of more concern for example than sodium salts. Effects if either of the values increases water will accordingly become acidic or alkaline leading to detrimental effects caused due to acidic attack or caustic embrittlement.

The water which directly enters the boiler. The hardness of water is caused by calcium and magnesium ions which will vary greatly throughout the country depending on the source. Feedwater hardness usually ranges from 0 01 to 2 0 ppm but even water of this purity does not provide deposit free operation. Boiler water is the term used specifically to refer to water which is heated inside the actual boiler.

For industrial companies using a boiler for its facility some type of boiler feed water treatment system is usually necessary to ensure an efficient process and quality steam generation. It is desirable to keep the concentration of phosphates in the water to 30 50 ppm in order for complete reaction of the phosphates with the calcium hardness entering the boiler through the feedwater. These are internal treatment and external treatment. The purity requirements for any feed water depend on how much feed water is used as well as what the particular boiler design pressure heat transfer rate.

131 the internal treatment is for boiler feed water and external treatment is for make up feed water and the condensate part of the system.