Alkalinity
Definition
The acid-neutralizing capacity of boiler water, largely from carbonate and bicarbonate, capped to limit foaming and carryover. It climbs with cycles of concentration.
Alkalinity enters natural and industrial water mostly as bicarbonate from weathered rock and is the form in which carbonate chemistry rides into boilers. It is rarely reported as the actual mass of each species and is instead expressed as mg/L as CaCO3 to put species on a common neutralizing basis. Controlling alkalinity, by capital investment upstream or operating cost downstream, is central to managing scale and condensate corrosion.
Related concepts
Foaming · mg or L as Calcium Carbonate · pH Drift
How it connects
- this enables Calcium Carbonate Scaling
- this enables Buffering (Bicarbonate Buffer)
- Cycles of Concentration concentrates this
- Carbonate Equilibrium drives this
- M-alkalinity measures this
Part of The Blueprint of Water · 📏 measurement