Removing Scale Deposits from Heating Systems

Abstract

Facilities in power plants and thermal power plants must operate at high efficiency. Their efficiency largely depends on the quality of water as a cooling medium. Water is the most commonly used cooling medium in processes because it is generally available and has a large thermal capacity. The use of water results in a variety of consequences. The different compositions of water can cause scale deposits and contribute to the corrosion of system components. The exacerbation of the problem depends on the composition of the water and the operating conditions of the system. The lack of a low-cost and quick way to remove accumulated deposits that is also safe due to the chemicals used means that cleaning the system of deposits is not widely undertaken, especially in cases of small thermal power plants. Therefore, chemical cleaning is an extremely important part of plant operation. Due to the often-individual characteristics of each installation and the different sources of water as a refrigerant, it is important to know the different methods of descaling an installation. This article provides an overview of methods for descaling installations. Each of them has its own specific properties, allowing an individual approach to boiler scale removal.