Process Feedwater

In this process, feedwater is first treated by a deionization system consisting of reverse osmosis, followed by mixed bed ion exchange, and a final 5-p.m filtration step. The requirements of water for injection are a good deal less stringent... 

Printed circuit board fabrication and electronic processes require process feedwater with low levels of impurities. Large volumes of raw water must be readily available, either of suitable quality or treatable at reasonable cost. New facilities must consider water at an early stage of the site selection and planning process. Zero discharge, although a desirable goal, is very costly and difficult to achieve. 

The output from the turbine might be superheated or partially condensed, as is the case in Fig. 6.32. If the exhaust steam is to be used for process heating, ideally it should be close to saturated conditions. If the exhaust steam is significantly superheated, it can be desuperheated by direct injection of boiler feedwater, which vaporizes and cools the steam. However, if saturated steam is fed to a steam main, with significant potential for heat losses from the main, then it is desirable to retain some superheat rather than desuperheat the steam to saturated conditions. If saturated steam is fed to the main, then heat losses will cause excessive condensation in the main, which is not desirable. On the other hand, if the exhaust steam from the turbine is partially condensed, the condensate is separated and the steam used for heating. 

Figure 13.8 The grand composite curve for the whole process apparently requires only high-pressure steam generation from boiler feedwater.

From steam tables, the outlet temperature is 251°C, which is superheated by 67°C. Although steam for process heating is preferred at saturated conditions, it is not desirable in this case to desuperheat by boiler feedwater injection to bring to saturated conditions. If saturated steam is fed to the main, then the heat losses from the main will cause a large amount of condensation in the main, which is undesirable. Hence it is better to feed steam to the main with some superheat to avoid condensation in the main. 

Selection of the high pressure steam conditions is an economic optimisation based on energy savings and equipment costs. Heat recovery iato the high pressure system is usually available from the process ia the secondary reformer and ammonia converter effluents, and the flue gas ia the reformer convection section. Recovery is ia the form of latent, superheat, or high pressure boiler feedwater sensible heat. Low level heat recovery is limited by the operating conditions of the deaerator. 

Process condensate from reforming operations is commonly treated by steam stripping. The stripper is operated at a sufficiently high pressure to allow the overhead stripping steam to be used as part of the reformer steam requirement (71). Contaminants removed from the process condensate are reformed to extinction, so disposal to the environment is thereby avoided. This system not only reduces atmospheric emissions, but contributes to the overall efficiency of the process by recovering condensate suitable for boiler feedwater make-up because the process is a net water consumer. 

In lower pressure boilers a variety of additional treatments may be appropriate, particularly if the steam is used in chemical process or other nonturbine appHcation. Chelants and sludge conditioners are employed to condition scale and enable the use of less pure feedwater. When the dmm pressure is less than 7 MPa (1015 psia), sodium sulfite may be added direcdy to the boiler water as an oxygen scavenger. It has minimal effect on the oxygen concentration in the system before the boiler. 

Gas leaving the converter is normally cooled to 180—250°C using boiler feedwater in an "economizer." This increases overall plant energy recovery and improves SO absorption by lowering the process gas temperature entering the absorption tower. The process gas is not cooled to a lower temperature to avoid the possibiUty of corrosion from condensing sulfuric acid originating from trace water in the gas stream. In some cases, a gas cooler is used instead of an economizer. 

Fig. 9. Pyroform process flow diagram (38). Ref = refrigeration, CW = cooling water, and BFW = boiling feedwater.

Since membrane fording could quickly render the system inefficient, very careful and thorough feedwater pretreatment similar to that described in the section on RO, is required. Some pretreatment needs, and operational problems of scaling are diminished in the electro dialysis reversal (EDR) process, in which the electric current flow direction is periodically (eg, 3—4 times/h) reversed, with simultaneous switching of the water-flow connections. This also reverses the salt concentration buildup at the membrane and electrode surfaces, and prevents concentrations that cause the precipitation of salts and scale deposition. A schematic and photograph of a typical ED plant ate shown in Eigure 16. 

The voltage used for electro dialysis is about 1 V per membrane pair, and the current flux is of the order of 100 A/m of membrane surface. The total power requirement increases with the feedwater salt concentration, amounting to about 10 MW per m product water per 1000 ppm reduction in salinity. About half this power is required for separation and half for pumping. Many plant flow arrangements exist, and their description can be found, along with other details about the process, in References 68 and 69. Many ED plants, as large as 15,000 vsf jd, are in operation, reducing brackish water concentration typically by a factor of 3—4. 

Dearation can be either vacuum or over pressure dearation. Most systems use vacuum dearation because all the feedwater heating can be done in the feedwater tank and there is no need for additional heat exchangers. The heating steam in the vacuum dearation process is a lower quality steam thus leaving the steam in the steam cycle for expansion work through the steam turbine. This increases the output of the steam turbine and therefore the efficiency of the combined cycle. In the case of the overpressure dearation, the gases can be exhausted directly to the atmosphere independently of the condenser evacuation system. 

Process Steam Generation. Steam generated in the process sections of the plant may be at the highest plant pressure level or an intermediate level. Also, the process area may have fired boilers, waste heat boilers, or both. There may be crossties between utility and process generated steam levels. Enough controls must be provided to balance far-ranging steam systems and protect the most critical units in the event of boiler feedwater shortage situations. 

The condensing steam turbine has a relatively low thermal efficiency because about two-thirds of the steam enthalpy is lost to cooling water in the condenser. Expensive boiler feedwater treatment is required to remove chlorides, salts, and silicates, which can be deposited on the blades causing premature failure. The blades are already under erosion conditions because of water drops present in the condensing steam. Even with these disadvantages, the condensing turbine is still selected, especially in a process that requires very large compressor drivers and relatively low amounts of process steam. 

MF and UF systems can be designed to operate in various process configurations. A common configuration is one in which the feedwater is pumped with a cross-flow tangential to the membrane. The only pretreatment usually provided is a crude prescreening (usually 50 to 300 / m). The water that permeates the membrane is clean. The water that does not permeate is recirculated as concentrate and blended with additional feedwater just after the preliminary filter. To control the concentration of the solids in the recirculation loop, some of the concentrate is discharged at a specified rate. 

Piping system Main steam Process steam Feedwater Raw water Treated water Potable water Aux. cooling system Firefighting system Clarified water Filtered water Water-intake system Circulating-water system Chemical dosing Station drains Fuel oil Fuel gas... 

The choice of boiler steam inlet conditions is usually dictated by the desire to achieve maximum output from the process steam flow. This requires high boiler steam pressure and temperature. However, there are practical considerations to observe. Above 40 bar more exacting feedwater treatment is necessary, and therefore it may be advantageous to maintain pressures below this figure. High steam and temperatures can also influence selection of boiler materials such as alloy steels. The upper limit for industrial applications is around 60 bara and 540°C. 

Economizer. The economizer is a tubular heat exchanger used to recover heat from the exhaust gases from boilers or some processes. It is used in boilers to recover much of the sensible heat for use in preheating the boiler feedwater. An increase in boiler efficiency of 4-6 per cent is typical. The design and materials of construction depend on the application. 

Oxygen can also be removed from feedwater by thermal de-aeration, or partially removed by skilful design of the feed heating system and blowdown recovery. These processes run without cost to the operator, but save chemicals, and, by reducing the required dose of sulfite into the system, decrease the amount of non-volatile solids added into the boiler. 

They can only carry out these functions consistently and efficiently if the feedwater (FW) and boiler water (BW) chemistry and the overall boiler operation are properly controlled. Thus, over the years, in addition to improvements in engineering design and practice, many different forms of external water treatment processes and internal water treatment programs have been developed. 

Feedwater contamination problems may also occur where ion-exchange plants are employed for dealkalization or demineralization/ deionization (DI) processes. Where such equipment is used, however, it is common for some form of continuous monitoring to be provided, perhaps in association with an audible alarm to provide a warning of out-of-specification FW. 

Table 12.2 (ASME Consensus table 1) Suggested water chemistry limits. Industrial watertube, high duty, primary fuel fired, drum type Makeup water percentage Up to 100% of feedwater. Conditions Includes superheater, turbine drives or process restriction on steam purity Saturated steam purity target See tabulated values below... 

Example A boiler plant facility is located at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The deaerator processes 50 gpm feedwater at 10 psig with an inlet temperature of 180 °F. How many lb/hr of steam are required ... 

Demineralization by ion-exchange as purification technology to reduce amine consumption as source of feedwater contamination Demineralization processes Demulsfier, for fuel oils Demulsification effect, of antifoams Demulsification, of fuel oils Denting... 

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