FEED & BOILER WATER CONDITIONING

1. INTRODUCTION
The successful use of boiler is dependent on proper water conditioning and treatment. The quality of water
must have accurate for trouble free operation of boiler.
The water as available to industry is not suitable for boiler use. A complete pre-treatment and internal
chemical treatments are necessary to make raw water suitable for boiler feed.
The objective of the water treatment is:
 Eliminate scaling - deposition in boiler which cause tube over heating leading to accidents.
 Control corrosion of boiler system, which cause failure of boiler tubes, leading to unscheduled
shutdowns.
 Reduce carry over of water with steam, which is the cause of deposition on super heater/turbine
blades, leading to the expensive failures.
 To maintain peak boiler efficiency by keeping complete boiler water system clean.
To meet above objectives, it is necessary to maintain certain chemical conditions in boiler, condense and feed
water systems. A brief review of important factors is given in this section to assist and it is recommended that
the care and control of water quality be entrusted to experts

2. NEED FOR WATER TREATMENT

CORROSION CONTROL:
Water is corrosive to boiler metal. Typically, corrosion due to water will reduce thickness of tube @ 1 mm/year.
Thus, the life and safety of boiler entirely depends on the rate of corrosion of boiler metal. To protect boiler
from corrosion, pre-treatment is done to remove excessive corrosion ions like chloride, sulphate etc.
However, further chemical conditioning is required to protect boiler and auxiliary systems from corrosion.
Tri sodium phosphate, caustic, ammonia, and amines are used as corrosion inhibitors. These chemicals form
a protective film over metal surface and reduce corrosion. It is necessary to maintain prescribed concentration
of these chemicals in boiler water systems continuously.
The recommended dose of such chemicals is given in Table 1
Table 1
Boiler Pressure Kg/cm2 Residual in ppm as PO4 in boiler water pH
00-20 35-50 10.5 - 11.5
20-40 25-35 10.5 - 11.5
40-60 15-25 9.5 - 10.5
Above 60 05-20 8.5 - 9.5

OXYGEN CORROSION INHIBITOR:

Oxygen is present in dissolved form in water. At high temperature, oxygen reacts with metal to cause pitting
corrosion. Thus, prevention of oxygen lead to pin holes in economizer, steam drums and steam tubes.
Most of the oxygen is removed externally by deaerator and preheating of feed water. However, traces of
residual oxygen must be removed by chemical conditioning.
Sodium sulfite, hydrazine and amines are recommended for oxygen removal. These chemicals react with
residual oxygen making it inactive and protect metal against pitting corrosion. Catalyzed oxygen scavengers
are used for quick reaction.
The recommended dose of such chemicals is given in Table 2
Table 2
2
Boiler Pressure Kg/cm 0 -20 20-40 40-60 Above 60
Sodium sulfite as Na2SO4 30-40 20-30 5-10 ---
Hydrazine as N2H4 0.1 - 0.2 0.1 – 0.2 0.1 - 0.2 0.02 max
SCALE / DEPOSIT CONTROL:

Raw water contains dissolved solids, hardness salts and suspended matters.
External treatment is used to remove such impurities.
• Clarification - To remove suspended matters.
• Filtration - To remove residual turbidity.
• Softening - To remove hardness salts.
• De-alkalizer - To remove hardness salts and excessive alkalinity.
• Demineralization - To remove residual salts and silica.
• Mixed bed - To remove residual salts and silica from DM water.
A combination of above equipment is used to remove undesirable impurities in raw water.

SCALE CONTROL:
Hardness salts in feed water cause formation in boiler. Under temperature and pressure inside the boiler
and due to concentration, hardness salts precipitate in tubes as calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate and
Ca/Mg silicate scales.
External treatment like softening, demineralization or de-alkalization removes most of the hardness salts from
boiler feed water.
However, malfunctioning of this equipment, occasional bypassing of the softener/DM plant or contamination
of condensate or feed water with raw water often led to ingress of hardness in the boiler.
All hardness salt precipitate inside boiler leading to hard scale formation on tubes.
Such scale has lower conductivity causing increase in metal temperature, leading to bursting of tubes
in extreme conditions.

PHOSPHATE CONDITIONING:

Trisodium phosphate is commonly used. Hardness salts react with trisodium phosphate to form calcium
phosphate precipitate. This precipitate above pH of 9.5 colloidal in nature and therefore do not allow for
form hard scale of carbonate and silicates. The precipitated hardness salts are then removed through blow
down as sludge and boiler tubes are kept scale free.
Trisodium phosphate, apart from acting as hardness conditioning agent, also is a good corrosion inhibitor.
The recommended concentration in boiler water is given in Table -1

Note 1: TSP will act as hardness conditioner, only when boiler pH is above 9.5.
Below 9.5 pH TSP may cause hard scale formation of Ca3 (PO)2.
Therefore, coordinated, or congruent phosphate treatment is recommended.
Organic polymer conditioners are used to prevent hardness scales. Such organic polymer disperse scale
forming compounds like CaCO3 & Ca(PO4)2 in colloidal form facilitating their removal through blow down.
Polymer and copolymer of acrylic, methacrylic, styrene maleic acrylics are commonly used. Most of the
polymers are proprietary in nature and therefore dosage is best recommended by manufacturer.
FOULING CONTROL:

Suspended matter, oil/grease /oxygen & iron salts commonly cause fouling inside the boiler. Most of the
suspended matter and iron salts are removed by external treatment. However due to contamination
through condensate and concentration in boiler cause fouling of boiler tubes. Like hardness scales, such
foulants are poor conductor of heat. Thus, fouling causes overheating of tubes.
Fouling can best be avoided by maintaining quality of feed water as per norms. Iron is picked up mostly
in condensate system due to corrosion of condensate line.
TURBINE /SUPERHEATER DEPOSITION CONTROL:

The solids in boiler feed water get concentrated in boiler. The concentration of solids in boiler is decided
blowdown and feed water quality. The carryover of boiler water with steam depends on;
Mechanical Factors:
• Boiler load - Higher the load, lower is the steam purity.
• Water level in boiler - Higher the water level in drum, lower is steam purity.
• Load Variation - Sudden increase in load reduce steam purity for short time.
• Separation efficiency - Higher efficiency, better is steam purity.
Chemical Factors:
• TDS - Higher TDS in boiler, lower is steam purity.
• Total Alkalinity - Higher alkalinity as % of TDS lower is steam purity.
• Organics - Higher the organic contamination, lower is steam purity.
• Foaming - Higher the foaming character of water, Lower is steam purity.
The water carried over with steam due to above reasons is exactly similar in quality to blow-down or boiler water.
In superheater or in turbines, water evaporates, leaving dissolved and suspended matter as scales or deposits.
Thus, severity of scaling and fouling of superheater and turbine depends on boiler water quality and steam purity.
Maintaining boiler water quality as per norms and maximum steam purity is the only way to prevent deposition
due to carryover of water with steam.

SILICA DEPOSIT CONTROL:

Silica is volatile under high temperature and pressure inside boiler. In Super heaters/turbines, the evaporated
silica precipitates during pressure and temperature reduction and form hard scales.
One way to control silica deposition is by maintaining silica concentrate within the limit as recommended in Table.
Table - 3
Boiler Pressure Max silica in boiler water as SiO2 *
0-20 150
20-40 40
40-60 15
Above 60 2.45

* Maximum allowable concentration of silica depends on water analysis.

But it is always better to maintain SILICA as INDUSTRIAL NIL i.e., less than .02 ppm.

To minimize this problem, the quantity of silica in the steam must be controlled. Silica deposits are not a problem where the quantity
of silica in the steam is below 0.02 ppm. The proper boiler water silica level necessary to maintain less than 0.02 ppm silica in the
steam is shown in the figure below.

Silica is the only boiler water salt which vaporizes at pressures below 2400 psig. It can vaporize at pressures as low
as 400 psig. This has caused deposition problems in numerous turbines. The solubility of silica in steam increases
with increased temperature: silica becomes more soluble as steam is superheated.

Deposits are formed when steam is cooled by expansion. Silica scales are typically very hard, glassy adherent, and
difficult to remove. Thermal conductivities are usually very low and tube failures can occur with even very
thin silica scales.

For any given set of boiler conditions using demineralized or evaporated quality make up water, silica is
distributed between the boiler water and the steam in a definite ratio. This ratio depends on water pressure and
boiler water pH.
The value of the ratio increases with increasing pressure and decreases with increasing pH. The effect of the pH
becomes greater as higher pH values (from 11.3 to 12.1).
CONDENSATE CORROSION CONTROL:

The carbon dioxide is present in boiler feed water in dissolved and combined from as carbonate. Under boiler
pressure and temperature, it is liberated and carried over with steam as CO2 gas. This gas re-dissolves in steam
condensate to form carbonic acid.

CO2 + H2O = H2CO3

The carbonic acid is highly corrosive to condensate lines and steam using equipment cause in failure of such
equipment. The corrosion products are carried with condensate as iron and copper salts in the boiler causing
severe fouling and copper induced corrosion.

Ammonia, cyclohexyl amine, filming amine is commonly used in neutrally carbonic acid and prevents condensate
corrosion.
Table 4 gives recommended condensate quality to prevent condensate corrosion.

Table 4

Pressure/Parameters 0-20 20-40 30-60 >60

PH 8 - 8.5 8 - 8.5 8 - 8.5 8.5 - 9.5
Hardness(max) as CaCO3 1 0.2 ND ND
Iron + Copper 0.15 0.05 0.03 0.015
TDS 8.0 4.0 1.0 0.1

MAINTENANCE OF PEAK EFFICIENCY:

Corrosion, scaling, fouling carryover and condensate corrosion can cause unscheduled shutdown, accidents and
deterioration of system efficiency. Therefore, for trouble free operation and maintenance peak operation
efficiency, a combination of various internal chemical treatments is essential along with a good control over boiler
water quality.

Maintaining boiler water quality by using commodity chemicals likes TSP, Hydrazine, and Sodium sulfite.
However, it is recommended that the care and control of water chemistry be entrusted to specialist.
 FEED AND BOILER WATER QUALITY NORMS

S. No. PARAMETERS UNIT FEED WATER BOILER WATER

1 TOTAL HARDNESS PPM 0 0

2 pH AT 25° C - 8.5 – 9.5 10.2 – 10.7

3 DISSOLVED O2 PPM 0.007 -----

4 TOTAL IRON as Fe PPM 0.01 -----

5 TOTAL COPPER (Cu) PPM 0.005 -----

6 SILICA (Max) PPM <0.02 <0.02

7 TOTAL CO2 (Max) PPM 0 0

8 HARDNESS as CaCO3 PPM 0 0

9 TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS (MAX) PPM 0.1 100

10 TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (MAX) PPM 0 0

SPECIFIC ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AT MACRO
11 SIEMENS/cm 0.2 <200
25°C AFTER DEGASSING IN
12 OIL / DETERGENT / ORGANIC PPM 0 0

13 INORGANIC SOLUTIONS PPM 0 0

14 RESIDUAL HYDRAZINE PPM 0.02 0

15 RESIDUAL PHOSPHATE PPM 0 5-20