Deaerators

By James McDonald, PE, CWT

Originally Published: CSTN – March 2004

Deaerators work on the principle that oxygen is decreasingly soluble as the

temperature is raised. (See the figure to the right.) In a deaerator, oxygen is
separated from the water by creating a
head space and passing steam through
the feedwater. The noncondensable
gases and a slight excess of steam are
then vented from the system. The two
basic types of deaerator are the spray
and tray types.
Deaerators are designed to be able to
achieve 7 ppb of oxygen. Actual
performance is in the range of 5 to 25
ppb for tray type and 20 to 40 ppb for spray type deaerators.
The steam required for deaeration is about 1% of the feedwater flow for
every ten degrees of temperature rise in the deaerator:
Steam required (lb/hr) = (Tout – Tin) * 0.01 / 10°F
This is only an approximation because the heat content of the steam and
water will vary somewhat with actual operating temperature.
The deaerator storage tank serves several purposes:
• Since the pump head is broken in the deaerator because of the head
space, the deaerator water must collected and repumped to the boiler.
• The tank servers as a “battery” of water to prevent starvation of the
boiler feedwater pump and the boilers. Typically, a ten minute
supply of water is maintained in the storage tank.
• Oxygen scavenger chemicals are usually added in the deaerator
storage tank to further reduce the dissolved oxygen content (5 ppb or
less). The tank provides a residence time for reaction of the oxygen
scavengers with the oxygen.
Reference: Technical Reference and Training Manual; Association of
Water Technologies, Inc.; 2001; pp 3-23 to 3-27.

Boilers 142
 Solubility of Dissolved Oxygen at Various
Pressure/Temperature Conditions

Understanding the Graph

This graph lists the maximum oxygen concentration that
can be obtained at a given water temperature and
pressure. The water may contain less oxygen than this,
but not more oxygen. The vertical lines represent
temperatures; the curves represent a set pressure; and the
horizontal lines represent the oxygen content in ppm. For
example, at 190°F and 0 psig, the water can contain a
maximum of approximately 2.2 ppm dissolved oxygen.

Boilers 143