Raw Water & Boiler Water Treatment

For: Certified Steam Engineer

Course Date : 19 August 2022

Prepared by : E-Kai Teo Gee Kait

 Process of Water Treatment involved before
water turn into steam

• External Treatment
a) Raw Water Treatment (Turning muddy
water into clear water–Suspended solids removal)
b) Boiler Water Pre-Treatment (Turning
clear water to be least on hardness (Ca2+, Mg2+ &
and dissolved oxygen, O2 )
. Internal Treatment
- Chemicals treatment in boiler

2
 External and Internal Treatment
Boiler Water Pre-treatment
Raw Water Treatment Boiler Water
Chemicals Treatment

Internal Treatment
External Treatment

3
a) Overall view on how the water arrive into
a plant – Raw Water Treatment Process

4
Process of Raw Water
Treatment
Essential Key Points on Raw
Water Treatment
a) Soluble elements ( Minerals, COD/BOD….etc)
b) Insoluble substances ( Suspended solids, sand, muds
,plants…..etc)
c) TDS ( Total dissolved solids)

“ Dealing with steam must know

your water first”

6
 Bendasing Dalam Air
( Impurities in Water)
1. Pepejal Terampai – Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
2. Lumpur – Mud / Silt
3. Bahan mineral seperti Ferum - Minerals
4. Hidupan seni - Microorganisms
5. Pepejal terlarut – Dissolved solids
6. Bahan organik – Organic Matters
7. Gas-gas terlarut – Dissolved Gases (O2, CO2)

7
Coagulation

Coagulant
Polymer

+ + + +
++ +

8
POLYMER COAGULATION
Charge
Neutralization
Coagulant
Polymer

+ + + +
++ +

9
POLYMER FLOCCULATION,
BRIDGING

10
 Chemicals Used
• Coagulants – Alum, PAC ,
Sodium Aluminate
• Precipitate Al(OH)3 insoluble pH 5.7-7.5
• 1ppm of Alum consumes 0.5 ppm of
alkalinity, thus lowering the pH.
• To raise pH to optimum level, soda ash is
added : 0.5 ppm Soda Ash to 1ppm Alum

11
Raw Water Clarification

12
b) Boiler Water Pre-Treatment

• Water Filtration (Fine particles removal)

• Water Softening (Hardness removal)
• Deaeration ( O2 removal)

13
 Sand Filter
Remove Total Suspended Solids - TSS

PalmOil Mill
Pressure Sand Filter : Arrangement of Filter Media

4’ 24” 0.6 –1.2 mmGraded Sand

4” 1.2 - 2.4 mm Fine Gravel

4” 2.4 – 4.8 mm Coarse Gravel
14
 Water Softening
Ion Exchange Resin
• Removes soluble hardness - Ca, Mg, Ba & Strontium
(also removes suspended solids)
• Accomplished by passing water through a column of
plastic bead called ion exchange resin contained in a
vessel

15
Softener – Auto Regeneration

Vessel
diameter

St Ht
Softener – Auto Regeneration

St Ht
Softener – Manual Regeneration ( Mild Steel )
Softener – Manual Regeneration ( FRP )
 Ion exchange softeners replace Ca++ and Mg++ with Na+ ions.
Zeolite medium is recharged with Na+ by NaCl brine when depleted.
 Steps of Regeneration
1.0 Backwash (10-15 minutes)
2.0 Brine Injection (30-45 minutes)
3.0 Slow Rinse or
Displacement (10-30 minutes)
4.0 Fast Rinse (10-30 minutes)
5.0 Return softener to service

22
 Valve Time 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Backwash 15 mint √ √ √
Regeneration 45 mint √ √ √
Rinse 30 mint √ √ √
Service 1 Cycle √ √ √
 Deaerator
• Removal of disolved gases
• eg Oxygen, Carbon Dioxides

25
26
Deaerator (Vacuum type)

27
Mechanical Deaeration

28
 Purpose of Boiler Water
Treatment – Internal Treatment
 1. Deposit Control
• Overheat failures
• Excess fuel usage
• Underdeposit corrosion
 2. Corrosion Control
• Failure prevention
• Life extension
 3. Maximizing Steam Purity
• Superheater protection
• Turbine protection
• Steam line and valve protection
29
Boiler Type

30
Fire Tube Boiler

31
Fire Tube Boiler

32
 Fire Tube Boiler
B Water side

A
Fire side
( Wall, Tubes, Burner)

33
Fire Tube Boiler

Water Side
( water outside tubes)
Tube Condition
Clean ?
Slight / moderate/ heavy
deposit.
Scale / Deposit Thickness

Fire Side
(Fire in the tubes)

34
 WATER TUBE
BFW BOILER
RISERS
DOWNCOMERS SUPERHEATER
STEAM SCREEN TUBES
DRUM

ECONOMIZER

WATER WALLS

MUD
AIR HEATER DRUM

TYPICAL BOILER DESIGN

Boiler Water Treatment
Concerns & Purpose
Boiler Tube
Overheating
Failures
38
 Creep crack

Thick-lipped Rupture

39
Long Term Overheating
Bulge

40
41
42
 Thin-lipped Rupture

Short Term Overheating : Thin-lipped

43
pits

44
 Thick-Lipped Tube Failure Caused by Long Term Overheat

Thin-Lipped Failure Caused by Extremely High Temperatures

Resulting From Interruption in Water Circulation
 Purpose of Boiler Water Treatment
TUJUAN RAWATAN AIR DANDANG
 1. Pengawalan pembentukan
serpihan / kerak (Deposit Control)

• a) Pemanasan berlebihan pada tiub dandang

(Overheat failures)

• b) Penggunaan Bahanapi
berlebihan (Excess fuel usage)

• c) Pengaratan
‘underdeposit’
46
(Underdeposit corrosion)
 TUJUAN RAWATAN AIR DANDANG

 2. Mengawal Pengaratan
(Corrosion Control)

• a) Mencegah masalah dandang / tiub bocor

(Failure prevention)

• b) Memanjangkan jangka hayat dandang

(Life extension)

47
TUJUAN RAWATAN AIR DANDANG

 3. Meningkatkan mutu ketulenan stim

(Maximizing Steam Purity)

• a) Melindungi superheater
(Superheater protection)

• b) Melindungi turbin
(Turbine protection)

• c) Melindungi jaringan paip and injap stim

(Steam line and valve protection)
48
Pitting Type Corrosion

49
Deposition / Scaling

50
Corrosion

51
Boiler Scale 1/16” (1.6mm)
Increases Fuel Cost 11%
 Water Impurities
Impurity Concern Removal
Suspended Fouling Clarificatio
Solids Silt, Iron, Erosio n
Microbiogical n Filtration
Underdeposit corrosion
Dissolved Scaling Ion Exchange
Solids Corrosio Reverse
Minerals, n Osmosis
Organics Evaporation
Pitting
Dissolved General Deaeration
Gases O2, Corrosion Steam
CO2, NH3 Corrosion Stripping 53

products
 Water Impurities
Impurity Concern Removal
Suspended Solids Fouling Clarification
Silt, Iron, Erosion Filtration
Microbiogical Underdeposit corrosion
Dissolved Solids Scaling Ion Exchange
Hardness Softener
Minerals, Corrosion Reverse Osmosis
Organics Evaporation
Pitting
Dissolved Gases General Corrosion Deaeration Deaerator
O2, CO2, NH3 Corrosion products Steam Stripping

54
Impurities Causing Deposits
(Scales)

1. Hardness salt – Ca , Mg

Ground water Hardness > surface water (River)

• Eg Limestone - Total Hardness 300 ppm

55
Impurities Causing Deposits
(Scales)
2. Silica
• Hard silica scales
• With Ca, Mg forming Ca or Mg Silicates
(low thermal conductivity)
• Deposit on steam turbine blades
• (Carry over in droplets of water in steam or
volatile in steam at high pressure)
56
Type of Boiler Internal
Program

57
Internal Water Treatment
• Internal treatment –
adding chemicals to boiler to prevent formation
of scales by converting scale-forming compound
to free-flowing sludges, which can be removed
by blowdown.

Internal Program
• Sodium Bicarbonate/ Caustic Soda - pH booster
• Sludge Conditioner/ Polymer - Dispersant
• Sulfite – O2 Scavenger
• Phosphate – Sludge Conditional 58
Internal Chemical Treatment
• Oxygen Corrosion Control /Oxygen
Scavenger

Oxygen enters boiler will contribute to accelerated corrosion of feed

water system, boiler and condensate return system.

To maintain product residual as SO3 residual 30-60 ppm to protect

boiler all the time.
Internal Chemical Treatment
• Alkalinity / pH Booster

Due to the nature of JBA water, pH /alkalinity of boiler water has to be

increased to reduce the corrosion effect, precipitate hardness salts and
prevent silica deposits.

pH of boiler water 9.5 – 11.0

To maintain O H Alkalinity 250-500 ppm to protect boiler all the time.

60
 Internal Chemical Treatment
Scale and Deposition Control

Softener removes majority of the Ca & Mg scale forming salts.

Even with the best pretreatment, some form of scale and deposition
control chemistry is needed in the boiler water to control residual traces of
scale forming minerals as well as any products of corrosion formed within
the boiler system.

To maintain PO4 residual 20-50 ppm to protect boiler all the time.

61
Internal Chemical Treatment
Sludge / Polymeric Dispersant

Dispersasnt chemistry will precipitate hardness salts within the bulk water
to form a fine ‘mud’. The ‘mud’ is maintained in suspension via
dispersant and removed in the routine boiler blowdown.

Key to program effectiveness is our specific dispersant technology

62
 HIGH OR LOW BOILER WATER pH
CORRODES BOILER STEEL

Relative
Corrosive
Attack
8.5 pH 12.7 pH

Safe Range
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
pH
 RELATIVE CORROSION RATE OF COPPER
ALLOYS AND CARBON STEEL VS pH

CARBON
STEEL

CORROSION
RATE

COPPER

7 8 9 9.2 10
pH
Boiler Water Treatment Facility

Chemical
day tank

Softener

Chemical
Metering
Pumpset

Brine Tank

65
66
 Typical Boiler Water Control Limit
Parameter Recommended Range Adjustment Required
pH 10.5 – 11.5 Adjust ADJ 5050 pH booster
Blowdown
TDS < 2500 ppm Blowdown
Hydrate Alkalinity as 250-500 ppm Adjust ADJ 5050
CaCO3 Blowdown
Sulphite as SO3 30-80 ppm Adjust IS 1075 O2 scavenger
Chloride < 500 ppm Blowdown
Phosphate Na3PO4 20-60 ppm Adjust PO 5547 antiscalant
ADJ 5050 pH booster
Hardness as CaCO3 Below 5 SP 8100
antiscalant

Silica < 150 ppm Adjust ADJ 5050 pH booster

Blowdown
Iron < 3 ppm Adjust SP 8100
Blowdown Dispersant

Cycle of Concentration 15-25 Blowdown

67
 Concept - Cycle of Concentration
Boiler Water TDS
Feed Water TDS

= Cycle of Concentration

Boiler Water Chlorides

Feed Water Chlorides

= Cycle of Concentration

eg Feed Water Chlorides = 30 ppm

Boiler Water Chloride = 300 ppm
Cycle of Concentration = 300/30
= 10 cycle
68
 Sharing Session
Type of Water Selection for boiler operation on
costing prospective:
1. River
2. Pond
3. JBA
4. Rain Water
5. Condensate
6. Underground Water
7. Treated effluent from production
69
 Q & A Session
Welcome all kind of technicals
and water treatment systems
enquiry.
Reso Engineering Sdn Bhd
Tel 1 : 016-7236218
Tel 2 : 011-36556218
Tel 3 : 013-7216218
Email:info@resogroup.com.my
70