Steam is a moving, almost invisible, high effective form of energy which is created when heat from fuel is mixed with water creating latent heat in evaporated water, which is then called as ‘Steam’. It is used in various applications such as hospital, dairy, food industry and many more. Steam is in gaseous form thus it has its own standards of transfer, storage and processing. In industrial scale, Quality steam can result in healthy machine life, workplace safety, lower maintenance costs for machine. Let us now understand the types of steam:
| Saturated Steam | Wet Steam | Super-Heated Steam | |
| Steam Form | Dry | Wet | Extremely Dry |
| Application | Industrial Application | Not Recommended | Power plants |
| Efficiency | Higher Efficiency | Not Effective | Highly efficient for critical applications |
| Fuel utilisation | Completely utilised | Energy is wasted as the water droplets are recirculated | Energy is consumed on a higher side |
| Moisture | Negligible amount of water | Typically 3-5% droplets of moisture | No traces of moisture |
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Steam distribution hidden losses
- Low Insulation Quality: If the insulation of the steam pipelines is not as per IBR guidelines or standard company practices, the losses of steam condenses into water droplets in the steam pipelines which then has to be reheated in the boiler.
Maximum condensation takes place in starting load which can be reduced using feed water preheater.
- Faulty traps: In case of open- faulty traps or in case of low maintenance, the steam may condensate into water droplets due to the atmospheric conditions.
Also in case of manual traps, if the pressure of the steam is low, the steam leaks from these traps, leading to loss of steam. This can be avoided by selecting better trap model.
- Steam Leakage : There are minor to nano leaks in the steam pipelines which increases once the boiler runs on higher pressure. There should be regular inspections of the steam lines.
- Excessive Chemical Treatment: Chemicals used as a cleaning agent of the boiler and its line leads to corrosion of the contact areas of the system which depletes the thickness of the steam distribution line overtime. This leads to the loss of steam temperature and increases steam losses overtime.
- Uneven steam structure: If a larger or undersized steam pipes are installed, it decreases the overall steam pressure, temperature which leads to higher steam losses. It also makes the system ineffective and noisy. Inadequate drainage in the lines may also causes losses. A proper planning of the steam structure helps in long term.
In case of multiple boiler running at the same time, one must interlock the pipes and headers in such a way that the load is evenly distributed, otherwise there is a chance of one boiler locking out due to excessive loads.
- Crown Valve: The crown and safety valves are designed by boiler manufacturers based on capacity. If a larger capacity boiler is purchased which is underutilized, the crown and safety valves maybe requested to be altered as per industry and government guidelines to reduce the losses.
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