Cycles of concentration

Cycles of concentration is a term used to indicate the number of times the solids in a particular volume of water are concentrated.

In the following section we'll go into more detail about monitoring boiler water and steps you can take to keep impurities in your boiler at an acceptable level.

Cycles of concentration in a boiler may be determined by dividing the amount of chloride in the boiler water by the amount of chloride in the feedwater. Cycles are regulated by adjusting the blowdown rate. To reduce cycles of concentration, the blowdown rate is increased. Your local representative will determine the optimum number of cycles for your boiler.

Our understanding of chemistry and chemical reactions helps us to monitor and control substances which dissolve in water. Over one hundred elements are known to man. Of them only eight make up over 98% of the earth's crust.

The elements are arranged on a periodic table which provides information on their properties. Each element can be divided into individual atoms. Atoms of various elements combine to form an infinite number of compounds that are soluble in water to some degree.

An example of a compound is water itself which is a combination of two atoms of hydrogen with one atom of oxygen. Another example is common table salt which is composed of one atom of sodium and one atom of chloride.

Natural water generally contains a variety of dissolved compounds.

As a compound dissolves, it separates into atoms having either a positive or negative charge. These charged atoms are called ions. Ions with a positive charge are called cations and ions with a negative charge are called anions.

When a water sample is analyzed, usually no attempt is made to determine the original compounds which introduced the various ions.

For example, calcium bicarbonate is a compound frequently present in ground water. In a chemical analysis, calcium cations and bicarbonate anions are determined and reported simply as calcium ions and bicarbonate ions. This provides sufficient information to determine the amount and type of impurities present in the water.

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