Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 31

Feature Report
Part 1
Boiler Water Essentials:
Water Is Water (Not)
When it comes to water used in boilers, it is important to remove potentially
problematic impurities. This offers a potentially huge return on investment, even with
the prevention of just one major upset, let alone recurring failures
S
everal decades ago, a popular TV
commercial showed a cantankerous
man driving down a two-lane
road. The vehicle's tailpipe was
spewing smoke and nearly blinding the
drivers behind. One of his passengers
suggested he consider changing his brand
of motor oil, to which the man growled,
" Motor oil
is motor oil. " The announcer
went on to say that " Motor oil definitely
is not motor oil, " followed by a pitch for a
particular product.
Unfortunately, suggesting that poor water
quality may cause problems in plant boilers
can yield a similar response from plant personnel:
" water is water. " Nothing could be
further from the truth.
This article provides straightforward arguments
against the " water is water " philosophy
that appears much too often at
industrial
plants.
Increased emphasis on
improved water-system operation and staff
training offers a potentially huge return on
investment, even with the prevention of just
one major upset, let alone recurring failures.
It starts with makeup
As a basis for discussion, we will use Figure
1, which shows a representative diagram of
an industrial steam-generating system.
In power-generation boilers, the high temperatures
and pressures require high-purity
makeup water, with contaminants limited
to low part-per-billion (ppb) concentrations.
However, lower-pressure industrial drum
units can tolerate some impurities, as the
milder temperatures reduce the potential for
scaling and corrosion. The American Society
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; www.
asme.org) recently updated its long-standing
industrial boiler-water-chemistry guidelines
[1]. Table 1 of this article is an extract
from Table 1 of these guidelines for watertube
drum boilers with superheaters, and is
Brad Buecker,
Buecker & Associates,
LLC
Wendy
McKinnon,
ChemTreat, Inc.
IN BRIEF
IT STARTS WITH MAKEUP
INFLUENCE OF
CONDENSATE
IMPURITIES
BOILER-WATER
TREATMENT
A FINAL NOTE
ChemTreat
FIGURE 1. Common schematic of an industrial steam generating system. The blowdown heat exchanger and feedwater
heater are auxiliary items that may or may not be present
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2023
31

http://www.asme.org http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM

Chemical Engineering March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering March 2023

Chemical Engineering March 2023 - Cover1
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - Cover2
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 1
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 2
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 3
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 4
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 5
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 6
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 7
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 8
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 9
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 10
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 11
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 12
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 13
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 14
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 15
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 16
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 17
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 18
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 19
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 20
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 21
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 22
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 23
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 24
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 25
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 26
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 27
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 28
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 29
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 30
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 31
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 32
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 33
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 34
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 35
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 36
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 37
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 38
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 39
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 40
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 41
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 42
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 43
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 44
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - Cover3
Chemical Engineering March 2023 - Cover4
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