ASSIGNMENT ON BOILER WATER AND COOLING WATER TREATMENT

BY SIR.GHAZANFAR
A short summary about boiler trearment and water treatment processes.

Prepared By: Atif Mehmood ME-175 M.Shahzaib Shakaib ME-150 Section: C 5/31/2010

Boiler

Water Treatment
There are two types of treatment in boiler water treatment process. 1) Pre-Treatment (External Treatment) 2) Internal Treatment

1) Pre-Treatment:It is the reduction or removal of impurities from water outside the boiler. In general, external treatment is used when the amount of one or more of the feed water impurities is too high to be tolerated by the boiler system in question. There are many types of external treatment. Some of them are:

i) Softening of water:Hardness in water is caused by certain salts. The main hardness causing ions are Calcium (Ca2+), Magnesium (Mg2+) and Bicarbonate (HCO3-). These ions or minerals are normally addressed as scale in the water causing scaling of pipes and equipment in drinking water and process water systems.Softening units offer a water purification solution for hard water and lime scale removal. Generally, in industries the hardness of water is acceptable from 0-2ppm.

ii) Deaeration (Removal of oxygen):In order to meet industrial standards for both oxygen content and the allowable metal oxide levels in feed water, nearly complete oxygen removal is required. This can be accomplished only by efficient mechanical deaeration supplemented by a properly controlled oxygen scavenger. Deaeration can be performed using a physical medium such as deaerating heaters or vacuum deaerators or a chemical medium such as oxygen scavengers (polishing treatment) or catalytic resins. Membrane contractors are increasingly being used. Carbon dioxide is often removed using a physical medium. The purpose of a deaerator is to reduce dissolved gases, particularly oxygen, to a low level and improve plant thermal efficiency by raising the water temperature. In addition, they provide feed water storage and proper suction conditions for boiler feed water pumps.

2) Internal Treatment:Internal Treatment is the conditioning of impurities within the boiler system. The reactions occur either in the feed lines or in the boiler proper. Internal treatment may be used alone or in conjunction with external treatment. Its purpose is to properly react with feed water hardness, condition sludge, scavenge oxygen and prevent boiler water foaming. There are many types of internal treatment.Some of them are:

i) Preventation of scaling:Boiler scale is caused by impurities being precipitated out of the water directly on heat transfer surfaces or by suspended matter in water settling out on the metal and becoming hard and adherent. Common feed water contaminants that can form boiler deposits include calcium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, and silica. Scaling is mainly due to the presence of calcium and magnesium salts (carbonates or sulphates), which are less soluble hot than cold, or to the presence of too high concentration of silica in relation to the alkalinity of the water in the boiler.

If unchecked, scaling causes progressive lowering of the boiler efficiency by heat retardation, acting as an insulator. Eventually, scale built-up will cause the tube to overheat and rupture. Boiler deposits can also cause plugging or partial obstruction of corrosive attack underneath the deposits may occur. In general, boiler deposits can cut operating efficiency, produce boiler damage, can cause unscheduled boiler outages, and increase cleaning expense. The first anti-scaling preventative measure is to supply good quality demineralised water as make up feed water. The purer the feed water is, the weaker the driving mechanism to form scale. Scale-forming minerals that do enter the boiler can be rendered harmless by internal chemical treatment. A long-established technique is to detach the hardness cations, magnesium and calcium, from the scale forming minerals and to replace them with sodium ions.

ii) Preventation of Sludge Formation:As the water evaporate continuously in boilers, the concentration of dissolved salts increases. When there saturation points are reached, the salts are precipitated. If the ppt. that are formed soft loose and floats in water. It is called sludge. There are two general approaches to conditioning sludge inside a boiler: by coagulation or dispersion. When the total amount of sludge is high (as the result of high feed-water hardness) it is better to coagulate the sludge to form large flocculent particles. This can be removed by blow-down. The coagulation can be obtained by careful adjustment of the amounts of alkalis, phosphates and organics used for treatment, based on the fee-water analysis. When the amount of sludge is not high (low feed water hardness) it is preferable to use a higher percentage of phosphates in the treatment. Phosphates form separated sludge particles. A higher percentage of organic sludge dispersants is used in the treatment to keep the sludge particles dispersed throughout the boiler water. The materials used for conditioning sludge include various organic materials of the tannin, lignin or alginate classes. It is important that these organics are selected and processed, so that they are both effective and stand stable at the boiler operating pressure.

iii) Preventation of Corrosion:Corrosion is the reversion of a metal to its ore form. Iron, for example, reverts to iron oxide as the result of corrosion. The process of corrosion however is a complex electro chemical reaction and it takes many forms. Corrosion may produce general attach over a large metal surface or it may result in pinpoint penetration of metal. Corrosion is a relevant problem caused by water in boilers. Corrosion can be of widely varying origin and nature due to the action of dissolved oxygen, to corrosion currents set up as a result of heterogeneities on metal surfaces, or to the iron being directly attacked by the water.

While basic corrosion in boilers may be primarily due to reaction of the metal with oxygen, other factors such as stresses, acid conditions, and specific chemical corrodents may have an important influence and produce different forms of attack. It is necessary to consider the quantity of the various harmful substances that can be allowed in the boiler water without risk of damage to the boiler. Corrosion may occur in the feed-water system as a result of low pH water and the presence of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. Corrosion is caused principally by complex oxide-slag with low melting points. High temperature corrosion can proceed only if the corroding deposit is in the liquid phase and the liquid is in direct contact with the metal. Deposits also promote the transport of oxygen to the metal surface. Corrosion in the boiler proper generally occurs when the boiler water alkalinity is low or when the metal is exposed to oxygen bearing water either during operation or idle periods. High temperatures and stresses in the boiler metal tend to accelerate the corrosive mechanisms. In the steam and condensate system corrosion is generally the result of contamination with carbon dioxide and oxygen. Specific contaminants such as ammonia or sulphur bearing gases may increase attack on copper alloys in the system.Corrosion is caused by the combination of oxide layer fluxing and continuous oxidation by transported oxygen. Corrosion control techniques vary according to the type of corrosion encountered. Major methods include maintenance of the proper pH, control of oxygen, control of deposits, and reduction of stresses trough design and operational practices. Deaeration and recently the use of membrane contractors are the best and most diffused ways to avoid corrosion removing the dissolved gasses (mainly O2 and CO2).

iv) Preventation of Foaming and Priming in boilers:Boiler water carry-over is the contamination of the steam with boiler-water solids. Bubbles or froth actually build up on the surface of the boiler water and pass out with the steam. This is called foaming and it is caused by high concentration of any solids in the boiler water. It is generally believed, however, that specific substances such as alkalis, oils, fats, greases, certain types of organic matter and suspended solids are particularly conducive to foaming. In theory suspended solids collect in the surface film surrounding a steam bubble and make it tougher.

The steam bubble therefore resists breaking and builds up foam. It is believed that the finer the suspended particles the greater their collection in the bubble. Priming is the carryover of varying amounts of droplets of water in the steam (foam and mist), which lowers the energy efficiency of the steam and leads to the deposit of salt crystals on the super heaters and in the turbines. Priming may be caused by improper construction of boiler, excessive ratings, or sudden fluctuations in steam demand. Priming is sometimes aggravated by impurities in the boiler-water. Some mechanical entertainment of minute drops of boiler water in the steam always occurs. When this boiler water carryover is excessive, steam-carried solids produce turbine blade deposits. The accumulations have a composition similar to that of the dissolved solids in the boiler water. Priming is common cause of high levels of boiler water carryover. These conditions often lead to super heater tube failures as well. Priming is related to the viscosity of the water and its tendency to foam. These properties are governed by alkalinity, the presence of certain organic substances and by total salinity or TDS. The degree of priming also depends on the design of the boiler and its steaming rate. The most common measure to prevent foaming and priming is to maintain the concentration of solids in the boiler water at reasonably low levels. Avoiding high water levels, excessive boiler loads, and sudden load changes also helps. Very often contaminated condensate returned to the boiler system causes carry-over problems. In these cases the condensate should be temporarily wasted until the source of contamination is found and eliminated. The use of chemical anti-foaming and anti-priming agents, mixtures of surface-active agents that modify the surface tension of a liquid, remove foam and prevent the carry-over of fine water particles in the stream, can be very effective in preventing carry-over due to high concentrations of impurities in the boiler-water.

Cooling Water Treatment

Although water technology (chemistry of water) in industrial water treatment has made large advances over the past 60 years, the objectives of successful cooling water systems treatment program have remained the same: extend equipment life and maintain efficient heat transfer. This has been accomplished by minimizing corrosion of system metallurgy as well as keeping metal surfaces free from deposition. From a historical perspective, even the earliest Cooling Water Systems

programs have addresses these concerns by the incorporation of concerns related to corrosion and scale inhibitors and deposit control agents. Not much of the changes or breakthroughs havetaken place in at least last two decades in terms of specialty chemicals technology. The main purposes of cooling water treatment process are: * Use of environmentally safe chemicals * Alkaline treatment * Health related concerns * Automatic dosing and monitoring

*Environmentally Safe Chemicals:Scanning of the recent work on cooling water treatment reveals that the published literature has been mainly dedicated to the search for environmentally safe corrosion and scale inhibitors. The present research deals with types, structure, efficiency, biodegradability and advantages of new compounds "mixtures". Green water chemistry and green chemicals (specialty chemicals) are defined and the approach adapted in finding such compounds and the methods of evaluation are highlighted. A promising approach is represented by the combination of biodegradable polymers and environmentally safe amounts of phosphorous and chromium. This prohibition is expected to reduce the risk of cancer cases due to cooling tower emissions to virtually zero. Additionally, elimination of hexavalent chromium-based treatment chemicals will eliminate the amount of hazardous and toxic wastes discarded through blow down. Non-chromate chemicals may also have some adverse impacts on the environment. For example, while zinc based chemicals are particularly dangerous to humans, they are highly toxic to marine life. Nevertheless, the impact of substitute chemicals on the environment must be carefully analyzed before actually using them.

*Alkaline treatment:Conventional chromate/zinc and chromate/zinc/orthophosphate programs have traditionally been controlled at pH limit below 7 (and often much lower) to avoid excessive precipitation of water salts. In modern water treatment "chromate" has been discontinued long back due to "environment considerations." On the other hand now days almost all the good companies use "alkaline cooling water technology" and take advantage of lower corrosively of high pH waters

super saturated with respect to calcium carbonate. Alkaline waters are generally less aggressive towards steel than near neutral pH water because of their higher buffering capacity. The deposit control position of the program utilizes a "polymer technology" that allows the pH to be controlled at levels previously thought to be too high. It is encouraging to note that, 85% of the cooling towers operating worldwide had already changed to non-chromate systems.

Health related concerns:Keeping the cooling water system operating within the established parameters. The accumulation of suspended matter and organic matter can contribute to the proliferation of bacteria. Undertake an effective biocide program that includes two, alternating biocides that function in differing manners. (I.e. alternate a quaternary ammonium based biocide with a carbonates biocide.) The control of other micro flora within a system can and does have a direct impact upon the growth of bacteria. One can be safe by inspecting the site for air intake sites the vicinity of the cooling tower. By minimizing the exposure of persons to water vapors from the cooling system, you can minimize the potential for an outbreak of disease.

Automatic dosing and monitoring:In most cases, too much emphasis is placed on the control and feed of cooling water treatment chemicals and not nearly, enough emphasis is placed on continuous monitoring of the system. While most end users of cooling water specialty chemicals are aware of the monitoring capabilities of the major specialty suppliers, few are aware that having there on lab. For monitoring helps them in getting better results. There are a number of good reasons for continuous performance monitoring of cooling systems:

*Changes in make-up water chemistry. *Changes in temperature due to seasonal variations. *Changes in system heat load due to production level changes. *Changes in biological control requirements due to seasonal variations. *Treatment Chemical quality control problems. *System feed and control problems. *System contamination from atmospheric or process leaks. The cooling water treatment program consists of the following process: 1) Corrosion 2) Scaling 3) Microbial growth

1) Corrosion:Corrosion is an electrochemical reaction converting the metal into its oxide. Corrosion requires an anode, cathode & an electrolyte. The metal acts as an anode & cathode while water acts as an electrolyte. Following factor affect the rate corrosion: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Metallurgy of the system PH of circulating water Dissolved gases Dissolved and suspended solids Water velocity Temperature Microbial growth

Important types of corrosion which are frequently found in water cooling system: General type of corrosion a) Localized corrosion b) Corrosion due of velocity c) Corrosion due to mechanical stress

2) Scaling:Scaling is defined as the hard and adherent deposits formed due to precipitation of sparingly soluble salts in water. The most commonly occurring scalants in cooling water systems are carbonates, sulphates, phosphates and silicates of calcium and magnesium.

Scale Deposition:The scale deposits give rise to the following problems in cooling water systems: a) Reduced heat transfer decreasing the heat transfer efficiency. b) Increased pressure drop on water side. c) Under Deposit Corrosion.

Following are the factors which affect the scaling in cooling water system:a) Temperature b) pH c) Solubility

3) Microbial Growth:Cooling water gives the excellent conditions for growth of various microorganisms. The temperature and pH of circulating water are ideal conditions for the growth of algae and various bacteria's. Also the organic matter, inorganic salts, sunlight etc. provides abundance of nutrients for the growth of these microorganisms. Following are the problems faced because of various microorganisms:

a) Algae:Air, water & sunlight are the three basic requirements for algae growth. Excessive growth of algae on the deck of cooling tower can choke the distributor nozzles and reduce the water flow through cooling tower thus reducing its efficiency. Excessive growth on the louvers, fill material increases the load on structure and may cause the failure of structure. Algae mass can also get carry into the heat exchangers and plug the exchanger tubes.

Bacteria:There are various species of bacteria found in cooling water system.Some of them are frequently found in the cooling water system: a) I Pseudomonas: These are aerobic bacteria, which secrete slime. This slime acts as a binding material and fouls the System. b) II Sulphate Reducing Bacteria: These are anaerobic bacteria which reduces sulphate ions to sulphides. These bacteria grow under the deposits and yields under deposit corrosion. c) There are also other aerobic bacteria like nitrifying bacteria, which reduces the pH of circulating water and iron bacteria and sulphur oxidizing bacteria which hamper the efficiency of the system. Cooling water treatment process can be made simple if precaution and safety issues are not being ignored, plus the reliable chemical are being used to make the process easier and safer.