3 · August 2001
General of lime deposits if the contaminated The isolating effect of oil deposits
An oil-fired steam boiler onboard a feedwater is not treated sufficiently. reduces heat transfer much more
ship is fed by returned, condensed Also, make-up water bunkered a- than e.g. a limestone scale layer
steam to replace the boiled off wa- shore might contain humus particles of equal thickness. To understand
ter as well as with stored make-up and silica, forming heating surface the mechanism, we have to focus
water to replace steam lost by con- deposits when heated. on the metal temperature as well
sumption, leakage or blow-down. as the conductivity of the metal
The feedwater is normally treated Oil as a contaminator and the different types of deposits.
mechanically and chemically in The most dangerous water contam-
order to suit the steaming process ination, however, is heavy fuel oil The conductivity of steel can be set
in the boiler and to ensure good entering the steam or condensate to 50 W/m2 °C, scale having 2 W/m2
transfer of the heat input from the from leaking tank coils or heat ex- °C and oil 0.1 W/m2 °C. It follows
combustion process to the water. changers. This kind of leakage in that oil isolates 20 times as much
A closed cycle process would be coil flanges or broken gaskets in as scale, with the same thickness of
preferable in order to ensure a heat plate heat exchangers frequently deposit.
transfer of high efficiency, but for occurs. If the problem is not observ-
investment reasons such systems are ed in time, the boiler could be com- The strength of the steel material
practically non-existent in today’s pletely destroyed due to overheat- will be reduced with increased
auxiliary boiler installations. ing of the furnace because of redu- temperature. An example shows
ced water flow and minimised heat that the material strength in an
Types of contamination transfer/cooling of the boiler tubes. auxiliary boiler will be reduced to
A ship contains heat exchangers for 1/3 of its original design value by
bunker fuel and cargo liquids, heat- an oil deposit of only 0.5 mm
ing coils and seawater coolers. So thickness. The steel material starts
when steam from the boiler and scaling at the fireside, when it is
condensed steam circulate through not cooled sufficiently and will
the ship’s system, it is almost inevit- soon rupture with great damage
able that foreign substances like as the consequence. (See photos)
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