Steam End Use through heat exchanger maintenance
Overview and Key Components
The primary purpose of the steam end use system is to maximize the effective use and heat content of the steam transmitted to the end use equipment.
Key components include a variety of end use equipment, including heat exchangers, unit heaters, and other process-specific steam use equipment. Other key components include steam trap systems to drain condensate from the end use equipment and piping to transmit steam through the end use equipment and condensate out of the end use equipment.
Key Inputs and Outputs
Key inputs include steam conditions (pressure and quality) from the distribution system and process inputs. Key outputs include product produced, steam and condensate resulting from specific end use applications.
Opportunities for Improvements
Understand how much steam is used per unit of product produced. You can use this information to compare with other information—within your company and by your competition—to determine where there might be opportunities for improvement of your steam operations.
Select, size, and maintain steam traps for specific end use applications.
Blowdown of non-condensables from condensing equipment is critical. If non-condensables are not removed from condensing applications, the condensing equipment will quickly cease to function. The rule of thumb is that for every 1% of non-condensables there is in steam, the heat transfer coefficient decreases by 10%.
Finding More Information
Under Technical Resources - See Technical References and Standards, Technical Tools