Abstract
This paper covers the results of a research on the separation of dissolved gases from boiler feedwater, both on a laboratory and a commercial-plant scale. Fundamentally the process consists of the rapid injection of heated water into a region of vacuo, and an explosive boiling of it at the expense of the heat of the liquid available to the vacuum, with a simultaneous recovery of the heat liberated to the vacuum by a heat exchanger or condenser cooled by the incoming water, preliminary to its heating. It is possible to deduce from a résumé of existing knowledge the results to be expected in the elimination of corrosion from boilers and economizers fed with oxygen-free water. Chemical analyses suggest the elimination of carbonates dissolved in water as bicarbonates in excess of their true solubility as carbonates. Test data are submitted to show the economies to be gained from the surface condensation of steam free from non-condensible gases both in increased conductivities and higher vacua.
