Reverse Osmosis Boiler Make-Up Water

Traditionally water softeners were used to treat boiler make-up water, but now reverse osmosis has become an economically viable alternative.

The advantages of reverse osmosis over a water softener include:

  • A reverse osmosis plant removes more than just the Calcium & Magnesium Hardness, so the water is far more pure
  • 90 to 99.9% of dissolved solids are removed which allows much higher cycles of concentration & far less blowdown
  • Reduced boiler fuel usage & fuel costs
  • Reduced boiler make-up water consumption
  • Far less internal boiler water treatment chemicals are required, which reduces chemical costs
  • Make-up water alkalinity is reduced, which reduces carbon dioxide dissolving in condensate & forming highly corrosive carbonic acid; so neutralising or filming amine chemical costs are dramatically reduced 
  • Reverse osmosis removes silica from the make-up water which can form one of the worst types of boiler scale & significantly reduce boiler efficiency  
  • Boiler heat transfer surfaces are much cleaner & efficient
  • Reduced boiler cleaning costs & elimination of acid cleans
  • Increased boiler reliability & elimination of costly unscheduled shutdowns & down time 
  • The reverse osmosis plant reject water may be suitable for use as cooling tower make-up water or wash down water. Water softener waste water is not suitable for these uses
  • Sodium Chloride is not required for resin regeneration
  • The need to buy, store & manually lift heavy 25 KG bags of salt is eliminated 
  • Better steam purity