Lake Martin Topics: explanation

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	Name:	waterph -
	Subject:	explanation
	Date:	12/9/2008 8:31:58 AM

Alston

Just to add to what Keyman said.

I have been involved in boiler house operations in the chemical industry. Keyman is correct in describing the quality requirements of the water for steam. The water used to make the superheated steam is treated with certain chemical agents to reduce scaling. Control of scaling in a high pressure stteam system is a must.

Pressures of the superheated steam are normally in the 400 to 500 psig range with accompaning high temperaatures. This is a very dangerous operation. A bursted high pressure steaam line can be dedly. After used to turn the turbines, this hot condensate is returned back to the bolers to make steam again - a closed loop operation. Any losses in the process are made up using fresh chemically treated water.

The heat source for the superheated steam is normally coal. The operation that I was familiar with used over 1,000 tons per day. Multiply this number by a factor of ten and you have a Widows' Creek Power Plant in Stevenson, Alabama, owned by TVA. Cooling towers are part of the process with water supplied from the Tennessee River.

Smith lake comes into play in that water for condensing the steam does not have to be treated in tthe same manner as the water used to make steam. Without cooling towers, an exobrant amount of cooling water for the heat exchangers is reqquired to condense the steam. This is why the Smith Lake water levels change from 510 feet to 497 feet during the hot summer periods. I suspect that the permit temperature for water returned to the river is 92 degrees. This is normally the max for water returned to the Tennessee River. APC has zero flexibility in exceeding this temperature specification for Gorgas.

Hope this helps.