ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY I

Objective Lecture Notes---------Session 5 & 6

Dissolved gases and salts in boiler feed water show many operational and safety problems.

problem details
priming and foaming priming is sudden and violent boiling of water and foaming is continuous
bubble formation. Both cause physical carryover of water droplets is
steam, making it wet steam and reduce boiler efficiency
scale and sludge scale is a hard and adherent coating on the walls of the boiler and scale is
a loose and slimy precipitate
both reduce boiler efficiency
scale can also cause boiler explosion
caustic reaction of NaOH with iron liberation H2 , widening the cracks and
em-brittlement crevices on boiler walls weakening the walls

corrosion corrosion of boiler metal by dissolved oxygen, carbon-dioxide or other

salts, leading to boiler failures

Hence the water has to be made fit (or conditioned) for use in boiler. This can be done by adding
chemicals to the water taken into the boiler. This is called internal conditioning.

carbonate conditioning (adding sodium carbonate)

Phosphate conditioning (adding mono, di or tri sodium phosphate)

Calgon conditioning (sodium hexa meta phosphate)

Colloidal conditioning (kerosene, agar-agar, gelatin etc)

Carbonate conditioning is given in low pressure steam boilers and phosphate conditioning in
high pressure steam boilers