A Turbidity Monitoring System for detecting non-conductive contaminants such as fats, oils, and greases, in condensate, enabling steam system operators ‘to recover substantial amounts of energy that would otherwise be lost’, has been launched by Spirax Sarco.
Which says that, if accidentally released into condensate, such contaminants could cause a boiler to overheat, requiring a lengthy shutdown for chemical cleaning, ‘or, at worst, causing boiler failure’. The company added: “To eliminate this possibility, some operators may discard hot condensate rather than recycle it as boiler feedwater. With condensate containing around 25% of the useful energy in the original steam, recovering it can substantially reduce water, energy, effluent, and chemical treatment costs.” Comprising a turbidimeter and a converter, the Turbidity Monitoring System helps operators re-use condensate by providing real-time monitoring, raising an alert should contamination rise above a set level, and allowing the tainted condensate to be diverted to drain immediately, rather than fed into the boiler. The system can also monitor the quality of other water sources, such as mains, demineralised, and reverse osmosis supplies.
