KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad

Department of Mechanical Engineering

B.Tech. VII sem (ME)

Power Plant Engineering (RME071)

Unit-2
Steam Power Plant

Topic: Feed Water Treatment System

What is a boiler feed water treatment system?

A boiler feed water treatment system is a system made up of several individual

technologies that address the specific boiler feed water treatment needs. 

 Treating boiler feed water is essential for both high and low-pressure
boilers.
 Ensuring the correct treatment is implemented before problems such as
fouling, scaling, and corrosion occur, will go a long way in avoiding costly
replacements/upgrades down the line.
An efficient and well-designed boiler feed water treatment system should be able
to:
• Efficiently treat boiler feed water and remove harmful impurities prior to
entering the boiler
• Promote internal boiler chemistry control
• Control corrosion
• Avoid plant downtime and boiler failure
• Prolong equipment service life
What does a boiler feed water treatment system typically remove?
A boiler feed water treatment system might be made up of the technologies
necessary to remove problematic dissolved solids, suspended solids, and organic
material, including any number of the following:

Iron; either soluble or insoluble,

Copper; can cause deposits to settle in high-pressure turbines

Silica; if not removed to low levels, especially in high-pressure boilers, silica can
cause extremely hard scaling

Calcium; can cause scaling in several forms depending on the chemistry of the
boiler feed water (e.g. calcium silicate, calcium phosphate, etc.)

Magnesium; if combined with phosphate, it can stick to the interior of the boiler
and coat tubes, attracting more solids and contributing to scale

Aluminum; deposits as scale on the boiler interior

Hardness; also causes deposits and scale on boiler parts and piping

Dissolved gases; chemical reactions due to the presence of dissolved gases such
as oxygen and carbon dioxide can cause severe corrosion on boiler pipes and
parts.

Effect of impurities

Scale formation:

Corrosion

• Corrosion is the destructive conversion of metal into oxides or salts. It causes

wearing of the boiler metal and produces pits, grooves and cracks on the
boiler surface.
• Corrosion on inner surface of boiler tubes is mainly caused due to presence
dissolved O2 in boiler feed water.

• Carbon dioxide is next to oxygen which is responsible for corrosion. Dissolved

CO2 in water forms carbonic acid.

CO2 + H2O —> H2CO3

Carbonic acid reacts with iron and other metals to form bicarbonates. They are
decomposed by heat and CO2 is again liberated. CO2 again form carbonic acid.

Priming, Foaming and Carryover

• Due to presence of soluble and insoluble salts in water, steam passage is filled
with mass of frothy bubbles. This is known as foaming.

• Foaming can be reduced by adding castor oil, antifoaming agents and by adding
sodium aluminate.

• During rapid steam production, some water droplets are also carried along with
the steam as it leaves the boiler. This wet steam formation is called priming.

• Priming and foaming occurs together and is referred as carry over.

Following precautions should be observed to reduce foaming and priming:

 Oil, soap and other suspended impurities should be removed from boiling
feed water.

 Various valves should not be opened suddenly to maximum.

 Water in the boiler should be at its maximum possible level.

Caustic Embrittlement

• Caused due to presence of caustic impurities present in water.

• Presence of certain concentration of NaOH and silica causes embrittlement.

• Presence of NaOH makes the metal brittle and inner cracks appear along the
seams below the water level.

• NaOH flows into minute hair cracks of the boiler surface by capillary action.
• Can be prevented by adding sodium phosphate as softening agent, addition of
organic agents like tannin or lignin and addition of Na2SO4 to water.

Role of pH

• The corrosion rate of iron in absence of oxygen is proportional to pH value.

At lower pH value, iron will be more soluble.
• The oxygen in the water unites with ferrous hydroxide to form ferric
hydroxide.
• Corrosion rate increases due to presence of dissolved O 2 and CO2 in water as
concentration of H+ ions increases which increases the pH value of water.
• The pH value of feed water should be kept greater than 9.6.

What’s included in a basic boiler feed water treatment system?

As mentioned, the exact components of a boiler feed water treatment system

depend on the quality of water being drawn from in relation to the quality of
water makeup needed for the specific boiler (according to the manufacturer’s
recommendations), but in general.

A basic boiler feed water treatment system typically includes some type of:

 Filtration/ultrafiltration
 Ion exchange/softening
 Membrane processes such as reverse osmosis and nanofiltration
 Deaeration/degasification
 Coagulation/chemical precipitation

Depending on the impurities present in your water, any combination of these

treatments might best suit your facility and make up your treatment system, and
depending on the needs of your plant and process, these standard components
are usually adequate. However, if your plant requires a system that provides a bit
more customization, there might be some features or technologies you will need
to add on.

Sedimentation

In this method, water is allowed to remain stand-still in big tanks or

allowed to flow at very low velocity. The solid matter settles down due to gravity
which is then removed periodically or continuously. Clean water is taken from the
surface of the tank.

Coagulation and Chemical Precipitation

• In this method, coagulants like aluminum sulphate, sodium aluminate or

ferrous sulphate are added to the impure water in a reaction tank to
remove the bulk suspended solids and other various contaminants.
• Reaction between these salts and alkalinity in the water causes smaller
particles to adhere to each other, forming larger particles.
• These larger particles settle down and can be removed by a filtration
process.
Filtration and Ultrafiltration
• The next step is generally running through some type of filtration to
remove any suspended particles such as sediment, turbidity, and certain
types of organic matter.
• In this method, water is allowed to pass through gravity or pressure filters.
• By increasing the fineness of the filtering element, the maximum
suspended impurities under one micron are also removed.
• The suspended matter adheres to the filter material and clear water drains
from the bottom.
• It is necessary to clean the dirt collected in the voids of the filter material
periodically by backwashing the filter material.
• It is often useful to do this early on in the process, as the removal of
suspended solids upstream can help protect membranes and ion exchange
resins from fouling later on in the pretreatment process.
Ion Exchange Softening
When pretreating boiler feed water, if there’s high hardness complexed with
bicarbonates, sulphates, chlorides, or nitrates, a softening resin can be used.

This procedure uses a strong acid cation exchange process, whereby resin is
charged with a sodium ion, and as the hardness comes through, it has a higher
affinity for calcium, magnesium, and iron so it will grab that molecule and release
the sodium molecule into the water.

Dealkalization

• After the softening process, some boiler feed water treatment systems
utilize dealkalization to reduce alkalinity/pH, an impurity in boiler feed
water that can cause foaming, corrosion, and embrittlement.
• Sodium chloride dealkalization uses a strong anion exchange resin to
replace bicarbonate, sulfate, and nitrate for chloride anions.
• Although it doesn’t remove alkalinity 100%, it does remove the majority of
it with what can be an easy-to-implement and economical process.
• Weak acid dealkalization only removes cations bound to bicarbonate,
converting it to carbon dioxide (and therefore requiring degasification).
• It is a partial softening process that is also economical for adjusting the
boiler feed water pH.
Deaeration or Degasification
• At this point in the boiler feed water treatment process, any condensate
being returned to the system will mix with the treated makeup water and
enter the deaeration or degasification process.
• Any amount of gasses such as oxygen and carbon dioxide can be extremely
corrosive to boiler equipment and piping when they attach to them,
forming oxides and causing rust.
• Therefore, removing these gases to acceptable levels (nearly 100%) can be
imperative to the service life and safety of the boiler system.
• There are several types of deaeration devices that come in a range of
configurations depending on the manufacturer, but generally, a tray or
spray-type deaerator for degasification or oxygen scavengers are used.