Phosphate Hideout

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When the concentration of phosphate in the boiler water is too high, phosphate will
react with boiler scale forming iron and iron sodium phosphates or precipitate to form
a solid phase on the hot boiler tube surfaces and elsewhere. This phenomenon is
called phosphate hideout and it can result in changes of pH, as well as the
concentrations of phosphate and other chemical species in the boiler water. Hideout
usually first occurs in boiler tubes with the highest heat flux and low mass flow,
where departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) or under deposit concentration
occur. Surprisingly, hideout and boiler tube corrosion can also occur in HRSGs
where the heat flux is much lower than in coal- or oil-fired units. This is because
there may be accumulation of corrosion products or inadequate mass flow through
some generating tubes; particularly during duct burner firing.

Because the solubility of phosphate decreases as boiler pressure increases, hideout is

typically only noticed during load changes. Phosphate hideout usually results in an
increase of PO4 concentration and a decrease of pH during load reduction and in an
increase of pH and decrease of PO4 concentration during the load increases. The
severity of phosphate hideout is boiler, heat flux, temperature, pressure, and boiler
cleanliness specific. In clean, conservatively designed and operated boilers, these
swings do not result in any boiler tube corrosion problems.

When using phosphate boiler water treatment, the concentration of phosphate should
not exceed the equilibrium concentration. This is the maximum concentration of
PO4 in the boiler water that the boiler can tolerate under the highest heat flux
conditions (full load). This concentration can be experimentally determined by
increasing the phosphate feed to the point where there is no further increase in the
PO4 concentration in the boiler water. This is the equilibrium concentration and the
normal boiler water phosphate maximum limit should be approximately one-half of
this concentration.

The equilibrium phosphate concentration should be determined once per year because
it changes with the boiler cleanliness. In addition, a phosphate balance should be
performed once per year using several weeks of chemistry data to determine the
amount of hideout that is occurring. The total amount of phosphate fed into the boiler
and the amount being removed through blowdown, plus sampling, should be
approximately equal. If the feed is greater than the removal, hideout is occurring.