As a reminder, water hardness is a common concern for boiler systems. In industrial settings, such as boiler operations, scale can reduce efficiency and even cause damage if left unchecked. Proper monitoring and management help prevent these issues and maintain system performance.
What is Hardness?
Magnesium and Calcium are commonly considered to be hardness in the context of water quality. This is naturally occurring due to limestone and chalk.
When water evaporates or boils off, hardness is left behind. As hardness concentrates, it can turn attach to surfaces and become scale, which is a layer of solidification/calcification.
Scale is problematic for boilers for the following reasons:
- Thermal efficiency is decreased due to the presence of scale which inhibits heat transfer between the water tube and the water.
- Tube temperature increases and can lead to overheating, which can lead to a boiler rupture.
As such, to ensure optimal boiler operation, hardness is commonly monitored and managed in boiler systems to prevent scale formation.
Removing Hardness
Water Softeners are devices specifically designed to remove hardness from water. Most softeners use cationic exchange resin to exchange the Calcium (Ca2+) and Magnesium (Mg2+) ions with Sodium (Na+) ions.
HARD city water is fed into the softener system and SOFT water is produced, protecting a boiler system from hardness and scale development.
- The cation-exchange resin has a greater affinity (attraction) for Ca2+ and Mg2+ than Na+.
- When in operation, the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions bond to the resin, removing them from water.
- This process continues until all the active sites on the resin are occupied by Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions.
- During Regeneration, the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions are removed by introducing excess Na+ ions, allowing Na+ ions to once again occupy the resin.
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