Pretreatment

Definition

The first link in the boiler circuit, which removes the dissolved minerals that would destroy the boiler’s heat-transfer surfaces. In practice it centers on softening to remove hardness.

Most municipal and groundwater sources arrive with low suspended solids because clarification and filtration have already been done. In boilers, pretreatment plus blowdown are the primary defenses, and boiler feedwater should be near-clear at below 1 NTU. Failure of pretreatment shows up as sludge or cloudiness in samples.

Related concepts

Turbidity · Closed Systems · Ion Exchange

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