Deaerators Information

Deaerators are used to remove oxygen and carbon dioxide from make-up water within a boiler feed system. Removal of these non-condensable corrosive gases extends the operational life of any steam system by protecting the boilers, condensate return lines, piping and pumps. Deaerators can be mounted on a common receiver with boiler feed pumps to form packaged units. There are two common forms of deaerators:

Spray Deaerators - Undeaerated, cold water enters the deaerator through a water inlet connection. At the inlet, connection spray valves direct the flow in thin conical sheets through an internal direct contact vent condenser into the steam atmosphere of the preheater section. At this point, most of the noncondensable gases are removed. The hot, partially deaerated water is then directed from the preheater section to the steam scrubber section where deaeration is completed by "scrubbing" the water with a large excess of oxygen free steam. The deaerated water then spills over into the storage section.

Tray Deaerators - Undeaerated, cold water enters the deaerator through a water inlet connection. At the inlet connection, spray valves direct the flow in thin conical sheets through an internal direct contact vent condenser into the steam atmosphere of the preheater section. At this point most of the noncondensable gases are removed. The hot, partially deaerated water then falls onto banks of trays designed to provide maximum water retention and cascades downward through the remaining trays into the storage section.

Typical applications include boiler feed systems, condensate return systems, and steam heating systems.