BOILER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
IWS knows that to get the most out of a boiler system a management program must be followed, along with the periodic scheduled service that IWS provides all of our customers. The efficiency and longevity of the boiler and equipment depends on the proper management of water. With the IWS Boiler Management Program customers are reducing treatment use, reducing energy and water use while getting optimum efficiency out of their boiler systems.
Our products and services are designed to analyze the health of your boiler system, including scale & corrosion protection, treatment feeding efficacy, and steam purity management. Our certified licensed technicians ensure that your facility gets the highest quality service.
The solid products we offer include alkalinity boosters, all in one treatments, condensate treatments, internal boiler treatments, online cleaners, oxygen scavengers, pre-treatment & cleaning treatments, and return line treatments.
BOILER TREATMENT
It seems easy enough that water heats to steam, and that steam provides power, but boilers can be complicated systems to maintain. For such a seemingly simplistic operation, care and maintenance can be anything but simple. Proper boiler treatment can prevent or correct a multitude of hazardous and costly situations.
- Corrosion can occur in many key areas of a boiler. It can shorten the life of a boiler, or at the least, increase the costs associated with maintaining a boiler. Corrosion can form in feed water heaters, deaerators, super-heater tubes and economizers, among other places.
- Scale caused by minerals such as calcium carbonate, calcium silicate and calcium sulphate can form on any boiler surface upon which water comes in contact. Scale deposits can impede heat transfer which results in higher energy costs.
Boiler water treatment to combat corrosion and scale is a key consideration for building owners and maintenance professionals. With proper operation and care that includes our scheduled IWS service, you can extend the life of the boiler and reduce repairs.
IWS treatment products use proven chemical combinations in a wide range of solid paste mixtures and delivery form options, including recyclable bottles and sticks. The products are transported in a low carbon footprint profile and applied easily on-site with a patented dissolving system. You gain all the advantages of a proven water treatment program with all the additional sustainability, safety and mechanical room neatness benefits of solid concentrates.
- Internal Treatments – Three proprietary boiler water Internal Treatments in solid form for softened or hard water make-up application. Packaged in plastic recyclable bottles weighing 11 lbs. each; 4 to a case.
- All-In-One Treatments – Six proprietary all-in-one boiler water treatment products in solid form for softened or hard water make-up application. Packaged in plastic recyclable bottles weighing 12 lbs. each; 4 to a case (one product also available in Stick form).
- Oxygen Scavengers – Five proprietary oxygen scavenger boiler water treatment products in solid form. Packaged in plastic recyclable bottles weighing 9 or 12 lbs. each, depending on the product; 4 to a case (one product also available in Stick form).
- Condensate Treatments / Amines – Seven proprietary boiler water condensate amine combinations in solid form; packaged in plastic recyclable bottles weighing 9 lbs. each; 4 to a case.
- Specialty Products – Proprietary boiler water treatment alkalinity supplements and on-line cleaners in solid form; packaged in plastic recyclable bottles weighing 10 to 12 lbs. each, depending on the product; 4 to a case (one product also available in Stick form)
Monitoring the Condensate System & Iron Oxide Transport
The transport of iron oxides throughout the system is a very noticeable result of less than fully optimized chemical treatment programs, regular scrutiny and analysis of associated control parameters in high pressure boilers.
A good condensate control program, using the correct mix of different distributed ratio (DR) neutralizing amines, will minimize corrosion and limit iron transport. A “standard” (and largely ineffective) control method is often simply to measure the pH level at various points throughout the post-boiler section (and sometimes to make residual amine adjustments as well). Good control is evidenced however, with low levels of suspended iron and conversion of troublesome, yellow or red Fe³+ ferric iron (hematite) into black magnetite. (Almost all transported iron is in the suspended form rather than dissolved, irrespective of the boiler plant design or operating conditions).
A monitoring program may take several months to complete, but the test procedure is quick and simple. It consists of collections 1 liter samples of condensate and filtering them through a 0.45µ pore size, Millipore or similar standard membrane filter system (a membrane filter housing mounted on a stout glass laboratory water aspirator or conical flask, which is connected by rubber tubing to a vacuum hand pump). The filters holding the trapped iron oxide are then compared to known color standard, on the Fe3O4 comparison chart.
This procedure provides a practical demonstration of the effectiveness of ineffectiveness of the program.
- If the filters are stained with red or yellow, there is inadequate de-aeration.
- If the suspended iron is high, there is a pH level and iron corrosion problem.
- Ideally, there should be minimal staining due to trapped suspended iron, and the color should be black.
BLOWDOWN: IT’S IMPORTANT!
Improper blowdown is a major cause of scale and wasted energy! Scale and sludge can result even when chemicals are applied at the desired treatment levels, if there is insufficient or incorrect blowdown. Blowdown is incorrectly often treated as an unrelated procedure to the chemical treatment program, rather than part of an overall treatment plan. At the same time, excessive blowdown wastes energy, water and chemical treatment.
Course of Action:
Use surface blowdown to control total dissolved solids (TDS) wherever practical. This is achieved with a manual throttling valve or an automated microprocessor blowdown controller. It is better to control blowdown continuously or in small frequent increments rather than infrequent long increments. This avoids wide swings in the TDS level as well as chemical levels.
Blue Series 1: Depicts continuous or frequent small incremental blowdown
Purple Series 2: Depicts manual, infrequent large incremental blowdown
Control Range: 3,500 – 5,000 ppm TDS for this example. Above 5,000 ppm risks scaling and carryover. Below 3,500 ppm is wasteful of energy, water, and chemical treatment.
Use bottom blowdown to remove sludge. It is not used to control TDS, unless it is the only blowdown option available. The frequency of bottom blowdown depends on the feedwater quality and the type of treatment program being followed. Boiler load also impacts blowdown requirements. The heavier the load, the more frequent bottom blowdown is required.
Excessive blowdown is a common problem with all boiler operations. The general attitude is that more blowdown is better to avoid trouble. However, the cost in wasted energy, water, and chemical along with the risk of possible replacement of boiler elements can be significant. Proper blowdown is achieved when adjustments are made to match boiler load changes, while maintaining the specific control ranges for TDS, alkalinity, and/or silica.
Blowdown Automation Automatic Controller
BEFORE AUTOMATION: Example, Manual control of blowdown achieving 9 cycles of concentration with poor control. Operator is forced to keep excessively blowing down to prevent scale deposits.
AFTER AUTOMATION: Example, Operating under a good control at 15 cycles of concentration. Blowdown is reduced by 6400 pounds daily; make-up water requirement is reduced by 750 gallons daily.
1. Energy Cost of Excessive Blowdown
The boiler can be safely operated nearer to the upper limit of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) recommended by your water treatment expert. No matter how attentive the operator, manual control of blowdown subjects the boiler to wide swings in water quality in order to stay safely below the upper limit and protect against waterside deposits. Manual control causes excessive blowdown.
2. Energy Losses Due to Scale Deposits
3. Labor Requirement on Testing and Blowdown Adjustment
Because the blowdown operation is now automatic, the operator no longer has to perform daily (or more frequent) tests of boiler water and make consequent adjustments.
4. Water and Sewage Charges
Under automation, excessive blowdown is eliminated, less make-up water is consumed, and less wastewater is put into the sewer.
5. Treatment Savings
Because make-up water requirements are lessened, the use of treatment is proportionally reduced. Similarly, the cost of fuel treatment is reduced due to lower fuel consumption.
Manual vs Automated Sample
