Presented at National Boiler Workshop 2015 - Presented by Ion Exchange

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Efficient Operation & Maintenance of Boilers
Visakhapatnam, 8th December 2015
Presented by
Organised by

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An appeal to the audience
Topic of this presentation is so vast that it cannot be
covered in one session. Due to paucity of time I will only
touch upon the important points without going into the
depth of the subjects. We will also restrict our discussion
within the pressure range of 80 Kg/cm2 because beyond
that pressure the subject becomes more complicated.
For the same reason I am unable to take questions in the
middle of the presentation. Those who have queries
please note down the slide number and ask your
questions after the presentation is over.
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About the presentation
Slides: 25
Duration: 40 min
Topic: Typical water and fireside problems in boilers
Best operating practices for LP, MP, HP boilers
Chemical treatment for both water and fireside
Role of Ion Exchange (India) Ltd.
Narrator: Supratim Bhowmick
Divisional Manager (Chemicals Division)
Ion Exchange (India) Ltd.
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Supratim Bhowmick
Divisional Manager (Chemicals)
Ion Exchange (India) Ltd.
Over 8 years in Ion Exchange.
Product Manager for all boiler
chemicals. Over 25 years of
experience, mostly in speciality
chemicals. Special expertise in
boiler water treatment. Also in
reverse osmosis, flocculants and
papermaking chemicals.
Email: supratim.bhowmick@ionexchange.co.in
Mobile / WhatsApp: (+91) 933 032 55 66
About me
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Low Pressure Boilers
Typical system configuration and problems
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1. Upto 10 Kg/cm2 pressure, usually upto 10 TPH capacity
2. Firetube or watertube, fixed or travelling grate, rarely FBC
3. All kinds of fuel - coal, biomass, furnace oil
4. Usually no deaerator, sometimes pre-heater
5. Make up usually by softened water, sometimes RO/DM
6. Steam used for process, directly or indirectly
7. Frequent shut down, often on stand by
8. Hard scale, chemical cleaning almost every year
9. Yellow to reddish and turbid blow down
10. Phosphate/Sulphite type waterside treatment
11. Water treatment gets low priority
12. Soot, corrosion, emission problem in oil fired boilers
13. Clinkering, slagging problem in biomass fired boilers
14. Clinkering, unburnt problem in coal fired boilers
15. Fireside chemical treatment very rare06

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Low Pressure Boilers
Best practices and chemical treatment
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1. Idle boilers corrode faster. Do wet preservation.
2. Recover maximum amount of condensate.
3. Monitor condensate recovery by temperature and TDS
4. Increase BFW temperature above 90 degree Celsisus
5. Dose sulphite continuously, avoid slug dosing
6. Dose phosphate directly in the drum, not in the feed tank
7. Be alert about hardness slippage just before regeneration
8. Maintain 10-15 ppm PO4/SO3 residual, avoid overdosing
9. Filming amine treatment is a good alternative
10. Blow down water should be clean and colourless
11. Rely more on prevention than regular acid cleaning
12. In oil fired boiler use fuel additives to improve efficiency
13. In biomass fired boiler use fuel additive to avoid deposits
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Medium Pressure Boilers
Typical system configuration and problems
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1. 15 – 30 Kg/cm2, usually upto 25-30 TPH capacity
2. Usually combined with back pressure or extraction turbine
3. Equal population of FBC and grated boilers
4. Invariably solid fuel fired – coal or biomass
5. Almost always with deaerators though not properly run
6. Make up with DM or RO water often with MB unit
7. Prolonged run with seasonal shut down for maintenance
8. Less scaling and more corrosion, turbine deposit common
9. Process condensate contamination quite common
10. Usually Phosphate/Hydrazine/Amine treatment
11. Water treatment does not get its due importance
12. Fireside deposit in biomass fired boiler quite common
13. Inadequate combustion is a problem in coal fired boilers
14. Fireside treatment is not so common but picking up10

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Medium Pressure Boilers
Best practices and chemical treatment
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1. Know your system well, prepare a complete flow chart
2. Identify sources of contamination and plan crisis control
3. Be careful about make up water quality, specially silica
4. Ensure that deaerator always gets adequate steam
5. Ensure that steam is seen coming out of the deaerator vent
6. Do not use sulphite above 25 Kg/cm2 pressure
7. Dose phosphate only in the drum, never with feedwater
8. Do not overdose phosphate to elevate drum pH
9. If drum pH dips immediately use caustic and plug the hole
10. Filming amine treatment is a good alternative
11. Educate your chemists on proper sampling and testing
12. After prolonged shut down flush well before taking load
13. Try to avoid sudden surges in boiler water drum level
14. Do not try to extract more steam than the turbine is designed
15. Biomass fired boilers can benefit from fireside chemicals12

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High Pressure Boilers
Typical system configuration and problems
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1. Anything above 45 Kg/cm2, but practically above 60 Kg/cm2
2. 80 – 120 Kg/cm2 should be treated in a different category
3. Usually combined with extraction or condensing turbine
4. Cogen and CPP are majority, IPP a new category
5. Mostly AFBC, some CFBC, some WHRB, large ones are PF
6. Mostly coal fired, some smaller units biomass fired
7. Always with perfectly functioning deaerators
8. Make up with best quality DM-MB water
9. Continuous run, hardly any planned shut down
10. Phosphate, Hydrazine, Amines are common treatment
11. Excellent control on water chemistry
12. Still problems occur due to lesser know factors
13. Usual problems are tube failure and turbine deposit
14. Fireside clinkering and slagging is also not uncommon
15. Fireside treatment is still rare though picking up.14

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High Pressure Boilers
Best practices and chemical treatment
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1. In HP power boilers steam quality is the prime objective
2. Need a water treatment specialist to manage such boilers
3. Measure steam silica, sodium, cation conductivity and dryness
4. Occasionally measure dissolved oxygen offline in feedwater
5. Measure both dissolved and total iron in condensate
6. Those having ACC be very careful about iron oxide fouling
7. Use of alternative oxygen scavenger like DEHA is beneficial
8. Be very particular about phosphate residual. Never overdose
9. Above 80 kg/cm2 follow equilibrium phosphate treatment
10. Cogen boilers should avoid sudden surge in the drum level
11. Occasional wet steam purging of the turbine can be helpful
12. All Amine Treatment is a good alternative for CPP boilers
13. AFBC boilers should be careful about bed coil failures
14. Avoid quick firing to avoid short term failure of wall tubes
15. Any pressure part failure must be examined to avoid repetition
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High Pressure Boilers
A few typical problems
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Caustic gouging from steam blanketing
Boiler tube metallurgy is selected on the basis of flue gas
temperature outside and water temperature inside. If any
boiler tube is water-starved for a prolonged period its metal
temperature increases abruptly and it fails. Semi horizontal bed
coils frequently fail at 12-O-colck position due to steam
blanketing. This does not happen in vertical tubes.18

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Caustic gouging from iron fouling
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Short term overheating
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Oxygen pitting
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Turbine deposit
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Back firing due to fireside deposit
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Fireside deposit from superheater
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How we can help
Ion Exchange (India) Ltd. are a leading technology
partner in the field of water management. It is one of the
very few companies worldwide who have the complete
product range in this field. Our knowledge is our biggest
asset and that is at your disposal. Feel free to contact us
whenever you need our assistance.
For your boilers we have our INDION brand of waterside
and fireside treatment chemicals.
We also have our EASYTEST brand of mobile test kits
ideal for your labs.25

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Thank you for your attention !!
Questions?