Boiler Problems

A proper quality of boiler feed water is very important. If

impure water is used then following boiler problem may
occurs
Requirements for Boiler water:
Sludge and Scale
 Disadvantage of Sludge formation:
• Sludges are poor conductor of heat. So they
decreases the boiler efficiency by wastage of
heat.
• Excessive sludge formation hampers working of
boiler.
• Sludges settles at pipe connections, plug
opening like region and causes chocking.
Prevention of Sludge formation:
• By using soft water
• By frequent blow down operation.
Scale:
Scales are hard deposits firmly sticking to the inner
wall of boiler. They are difficult to remove even with
the help of hammer and chisel.
Reason of scale formation:
 Decomposition of calcium bicarbonate:

• This scale forms in low pressure boiler and soft in

nature.
• But in high pressure boilers, CaCO3 is soluble due to
formation of Ca(OH)2
Deposition of Calcium Sulphate:
• The solubility of CaSO4 in water decreases with
increase in temperature.CaSO4 is soluble in
cold water but almost completely insoluble in
super-heated water.
• So, CaSo4 gets precipitated as hard scale on
the hotter parts and formed scale is quite
adherent and difficult to remove.
Hydrolysis of Magnesium salts:
• Dissolve magnesium salts get hydrolyzed (at
prevailing high temp.) forming soft type of
magnesium hydroxide scale.
Presence of silica
• If SiO2 is present in small quantity it is
responsible for formation of adhering scale
of calcium silicate(CaSiO3) & magnesium
silicate(MgSiO2).
Disadvantage of Scale formation:
 Wastage of Fuel
 Lowering of Boiler safety
 Danger of Explosion
 Decrease in efficiency.
Prevention of Scale formation:

• External treatment of water softening like Ion-

exchange.
• Internal treatment like carbonate, calgon and
phosphate conditioning.
• Mechanical hard scrubbing method.
• Chemical treatment :
 Use of EDTA: CaSO4 scales can be removed.
 5-10% HCl : CaCO3 scales can be removed
Difference between Scale & Sludge
 Boiler Corrosion

• Boiler Corrosion is disintegration of boiler

body material either due to chemical or
electrochemical reaction with its body.
It takes place due to the following reason:
(i) Dissolved O2
(ii) Dissolved CO2
(iii) Dissolved salts like MgCl2.
 Dissolved Oxygen
• The amount of dissolved oxygen in low
pressure boiler should be below 0.05ppm
and less than 0.01ppm in high pressure
boiler.
Chemical treatment
40% aqueous solution of hydrazine is also used in
high pressure boiler. Advantage of using hydrazine
is that is does not produce any salt in water.

Mechanical deaeration:
• This is based on the
principle that at high temp,
low pressure & high
exposed area, the solubility
of gases in water is
decreased.
• Here, the Water is fed into
mechanical deaerator
which is provided with
vaccum pump, heaters &
perforated plates.
• The out coming water will
be free from dissolved
gases.
 Dissolved Carbon dioxide
Sources of CO2 in water:
(i)Dissolved CO2 in raw water
(ii)CO2 formed by decomposition of bicarbonates:
 Dissolved Mineral Acids
• Magnesium chloride if present in boiler feed
water, can undergo hydrolysis producing HCl.

The liberated acid reacts with iron material of boiler to form

ferrous hydroxide which in turn is Converted to rust in the
following way:
Continued……..
• Thus, a small amount of HCl may cause
extensive corrosion since HCl is produced
in chain-like manner.
• As the boiler water is generally alkaline
(except water from mining area or those
polluted from acid industries) and hence
the formed acid is generally neutralized.
• If the amount of acid is more, calculated
quantity of alkali is added from outside for
neutralization.
 Caustic Embrittlement

NaOH so formed make the boiler water caustic. The

NaOH traves to the minute hair cracks, bends and
joints. Water evaporates and the concentration of
NaOH at these points keep on increasing with time.
This caustic soda attacks the surrounding areas and
corrode the boiler material.
 The Caustic Embrittlement can be explained
by the formation of concentration cell

• The iron surrounded by conc. NaOH act as

anode while iron surrounded by dil NaOH
act as cathode.
• The concentrated alkali dissolves the iron
as sodium ferroate. Sodium ferroate
decomposes as:

Due to regeneration of NaOH further dissolution

of iron takes place.
Sodium sulphate also blocks hair cracks, so prevent infiltration of caustic
soda solution in these.
 Priming
When the steam is generated rapidly in the boiler, some droplet of the
liquid water are carried along with the steam. This process is known as
wet steaming or Priming.
Foaming
 Carry Over
• The phenomenon of carrying of water along with
impurities by steam is called carry over.
• This is mainly due to priming and foaming.
• Priming and foaming usually occur together.
• These are objectionable because:
 Dissolved salts or suspended solids in dissolved
water are carried by the wet steam to super heater
and turbine blades, where they get deposited as
water evaporates. This deposit decreases the
efficiency of boiler.
Dissolved salts may enter the parts of other
machinery, thereby decreasing there life.
The maintenance of boiler pressure becomes
difficult because of improper judgment of actual
height of water column.