Posted by Nelson on February 04, 2000 at 08:48:54:
In Reply to: Re: pH problems posted by Rick on January 31, 2000 at 07:56:09:
: : I'm a civil engineer looking into a high pH (alitlle above 10, but high enough to cause problems with the county)problem. I've been told that the boiler room may be generating it. I've read a lot on this site about acidic problems with sulfite, but haven't read anything about high pH problems. Does anyone have any experiences with this? Thanks.
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: Tara, Our employer guidelines and Betz Dearborn guidelines are to maintain a pH between 10.5 and 11.5 in our low pressure steam boilers. If the pH drops below this level we add more liquid caustic to the chemical batch tank to elevate the pH level in the boiler.
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I agree with Rick. If you verify that the significant source of the high pH is the boiler blowdown water you then have several options to consider, including neutralization. But before I did that I would determine whether the amount of blowdown water could be reduced (I've found that it usually can) to produce a significant change in wastewater pH and whether the pH range for boiler water could be lowered/tightened.
Nelson