Advanced Internal Boiler Water Treatment Ing
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The Development of Modern Steam 4: Advanced Internal Boiler Water Treatment Ing. Shaun T. McMahon Edited: Wolf Fengler, MSME and Davidson Ward About the Coalition for Sustainable Rail The Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) is dedicated to the advancement of modern steam technologies, research and development of biofuels, and educational outreach. CSR is a 501c(3) research and development non-profit organization whose mission is to support and advance sustainable modern steam, fuel, energy, and transportation technologies; to promote the safe and efficient operation and preservation of historic rail equipment; and to conduct informational activities to increase awareness of sustainable and historical technologies. It maintains formal research relationships with multiple institutes at the University of Minnesota, including the Natural Resources Research Institute, a leader in the development of advanced, modern biofuels. About CSR’s White Paper Program Working in conjunction with the University of Minnesota, the Porta Family Foundation, and other not-for- profit rail and biomass research organizations, CSR’s White Paper Program brings works pertinent to biofuel, steam locomotive and transportation research into the public discourse. Cover Image - Pure steam wafts past the boiler of a Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (HSB) 2-10-2T No. 99 7236 as it is steamed up in Wernigerode, Germany. The locomotive was built in 1955 by ‘Lokomotivbau Karl Marx,’ in East Germany. Today it and 16 other identical locomotives, known as the ‘Neubau’ or “New Build” locomotives, designating their design and construction post WWII, serve as the backbone of the HSB operation. ©2016 This paper is covered by the Creative Commons “Attribution-No Derivs-NonCommercial” license (see http://creativecommons.org). It may be reproduced in its entirety as long as the Coalition for Sustainable Rail is credited, a link to CSR’s website is provided and no charge is imposed. The paper may not be reproduced in part or in altered form, or if a fee is charged. Please let CSR know if this paper reprinted (www.csrail.org). The Development of Modern Steam 4: Advanced Internal Boiler Water Treatment Ing. Shaun T. McMahon Foreword Edited: Wolf Fengler, MSME and Davidson Ward Dear Reader: The core of this White Paper dates back to the year application of the treatment is essential for its success, 2000 when David Morgan, MBE. TD. of the U.K. and accepting that early trials have to be seen as a ‘step made his first visit to the Ferrocarril Austral in the right direction approach’ until the whole system Fueguino (FCAF) in Ushuaia, Argentina, as part of the is up and running on an internal basis. preparations for a planned international rail conference that had opted to dedicate part of the proceedings to It cannot be over emphasized that IT IS NOT WHAT modern steam development at the start of the 21st IS PUT INTO THE BOILER THAT COUNTS, BUT Century. Amazed by the results being achieved up to WHAT ONE ALREADY HAS IN THE BOILER. PT is that date by my application of the INTI Internal an internal treatment system and therefore relies on Boiler Water Treatment (as it was known up until what is built up inside the boiler, not what is fed into mid 2001), Mr. Morgan took the news back to the U.K., such. This MUST be remembered at all times during at the same time inviting me to present details of the the application of the treatment. It will be evident application of the treatment at the conference in 2003. to the reader that the emphasis has shifted nowadays away from chemical In reading through the paper some 13 laboratory testing to a much more years later, I feel a gratifying pride which focused approach at running shed of course must be shared with those levels as was the case at the Alfred mentioned in the References and Country Railway, Ferrocarril Special Thanks To: Section, not to Austral Fueguino, Ferroclub mention my late mentor L.D. Porta, who Argentino, etc. read and approved the paper just two months prior to his death in 2003. As one reviews this paper, it may seem that some inconclusive statements are found in the This paper is aimed at providing a background on the text, but it should be remembered that this is quite technology and an exemplary test case. The application normal when the subject is under practical application of PT to historic and first generation steam locomotives development stages. By no means should the numerous is a crucial step in keeping historic equipment operating recommendations be dismissed whose ultimate goals safely and efficiently, and it is a must for any future are to drastically reduce overall costs associated with development of second and third generation steam. As boiler maintenance and repair. a matter of course, attention is focused on application of the treatment in countries such as Argentina and the This paper deals deliberately with a given case of developing world. the practical and successful application of ‘Porta Treatment’ in one of the most technically hostile and Throughout the paper, the reader will discover that geographically isolated steam railroad operations in the considerable progress in this particular field has been modern world. This in itself is proof that, if applying made by the simple application of lessons learned from the treatment can occur in the developing world, then practical experience as well as horse-sense engineering. the problem is not associated with the product but the The reader will see that a step by step approach to the person attempting to apply it. Enjoy your read, Shaun McMahon Board Officer and Director of Engineering 1. Brief Description of Steam Locomotive Boiler Water Treatment A continual problem since the development of the first locomotive was under steam. If this had to be done very steam locomotive has been treatment of the boiler often, a great deal of fuel and water was wasted. Certain water. Water contains impurities (minerals, metals, etc.) geographical areas have much worse water than do which can lead to problems in boilers. Since the vast others, therefore whilst this phenomena was a nuisance majority of steam locomotives are non-condensing (i.e. for all railways, it became a tremendous problem for water is used once and exhausted out of the chimney), some. locomotive water treatment is more difficult to control than on ships and stationary power plants whose closed Normal practice on steam locomotives was to ‘wash systems condense steam to water for reuse. out’ the boiler at least monthly. The locomotive is taken out of service, has its fire extinguished and the boiler In a steam locomotive, water is boiled and pure steam is left to cool down (cooling down of the boiler was not is collected for propulsion. As this pure steam is drawn U.S. practice, more on that later). Boiler plugs are then off of the boiler, the impurities present in the feedwater removed and washing out of the boiler internals begins. are left in the boiler, creating ever-increasing levels of This consists of directing a high-pressure jet of water concentration. Over a period of time, these impurities through the spaces provided by the absence of the boiler precipitate out of the solution and onto the internal plugs and follows a systematic course to sweep debris surfaces of the boiler. This process is called fouling. down and back to the mudring. Undesirable matter is These materials can slow down the transfer of heat flushed out during this operation. Once flushing out is from the fuel to the water and decrease the locomotive’s complete, the plugs are refitted. This process could take efficiency and power. Such fouling can also accelerate several hours, not to mention the time taken to gently corrosion of the internal surfaces of the boiler, thus re-warm the boiler from cold (again not US practice). increasing maintenance requirements and decreasing All of this represented a significant amount of labor the life of boiler components. accompanied by lack of ‘availability’ of the locomotive to haul trains. Steam is generated in bubbles which burst at the surface of the water, but if the level of impurities in the A more serious problem was that fouling materials boiler water are too high in the boiler, the bubble action often hardened onto boiler surfaces and could not be can create ‘foam,’ which can be sucked into the drypipe removed by using normal washout methods. If fouling and beyond, causing damage to machinery and making becomes sufficiently severe, it can actually cause the normal operation of the locomotive difficult. Operators temperature of parts of the boiler, such as firebox in the past attempted to minimize foaming by reducing surfaces and tubes, to become so great that they could the concentrations of impurities by ‘blowing down’ be permanently damaged. the boiler, or removing small amounts of water and sediment from the low points of the boiler while the The whole issue of boiler water condition was another Often quite dramatic, blowing down the boiler removes sediment from the lowest reaches of the system, where it tends to settle. This image shows Iowa Interstate QJ locomotive 7081 blowing down its boiler in Rock Island, Illinois on July 29, 2011. Photograph by Scott Lothes and courtesy of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art - railphoto-art.org. [4] | Coalition for Sustainable Rail A nearly unbelievable success, the TIA water treatment was employed by the SNCF at its Nice locomotive depot in connection with a fleet of North American-built 141R locomotives, such as the one shown above. The treatment was so successful in reducing boiler maintenance costs that three locomotives, numbers 1156, 1158 and 1159, were able to operate a cumulative 5,500,000 miles with fewer than 900 man hours of maintenance attributable to the boiler, or an equivalent of approximately 0.2 man hours per 1000 miles of operation.