What are the dangers of high moisture content in steam produced by a steam generator?

If the steam in the steam generator system contains too much water, it will cause damage to the steam system. The main hazards of wet steam in steam generator systems are:

1. Small water droplets float in the steam, corroding the pipeline and reducing the service life. The replacement of pipelines is not only limited to data and labor, but also some pipelines have been shut down for repairs, which will lead to corresponding production losses.

2. Small water droplets contained in the steam in the steam generator system will damage the control valve (corrode the valve seat and valve core), causing it to lose its function and ultimately endangering product quality.

3. Small water droplets contained in the steam will accumulate on the surface of the heat exchanger and grow into a water film. A 1mm water film is equivalent to the heat transfer effect of a 60mm thick iron/steel plate or a 50mm thick copper plate. This water film will change the heat exchanger index on the heat exchanger surface, increase heating time, and reduce throughput.

4. Reduce the total heat exchanger power of gas equipment with wet steam. The fact that the water droplets occupy the precious steam space actually means that the boring full steam will not be able to transfer heat.

5. The mixed substances entrained in the wet steam in the steam generator system will form fouling on the surface of the heat exchanger and reduce the power of the heat exchanger. The scale layer in the heat exchanger surface is thick and thin, which causes different thermal expansion, which will cause cracks in the heat exchanger surface. The heated material leaks through the cracks and mixes with the condensate, while the contaminated condensate is lost, which will bring high costs.

6. Mixed substances contained in wet steam accumulate on control valves and traps, which will affect valve operation and increase maintenance costs.

7. The wet steam mixture in the steam generator system enters the heated product, where the steam can be discharged directly. If the goods are required to meet higher hygiene standards, the contaminated goods will become waste and cannot be sold.

8. Some processing technologies cannot have wet steam, as wet steam will affect the quality of the final product.

9. In addition to the significant effect of wet steam on the heat exchanger power, excess water staying in the wet steam will also cause overload operation of the trap and condensate recovery system. Overloading the trap will cause condensate to backflow. If the condensate occupies the vapor space, it will reduce the throughput of the processing equipment and also affect the quality of the final product during this time.

10. Water droplets in steam, air and other gases will affect the flow measurement accuracy of the flowmeter. When the steam dryness index is 0.95, it accounts for 2.6% of the flow data error; when the steam dryness index is 8.5, the data error will reach 8%. The equipment’s steam flow meter is designed to provide operators with accurate and trustworthy data to control the production process in good condition and achieve high throughput, while water droplets in the steam make it impossible to perform accurately.