GLOSSARY OF TERMS
WATER CHEMISTRY, WATER TREATMENT, FUEL OIL TECHNOLOGY
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Energy Content of Various Fuels
ACID - The opposite of alkalies; materials with a pH below pH 7. Useful for dissolving calcium scale such as milkstone. Examples of liquid acids are muriatic, sulfuric, phosphoric; powdered acids are oxalic, sulfamic, citric, etc.; and the measure of how much hydrogen (in excess of hydroxide} is pH.
AIR WASHER - A system which cleans particulate matter from air by use of a water spray. It cleans air of dust, lint, petrochemical mists and other solids or discrete particles. May also be used to help remove water-soluble gases from air. If the air is clean enough, it may be recirculated to a factory or knitting mill, for instance.
ALGAE - Simple one cell plant life that transforms food to energy by photosynthesis(using light}. Can be very troublesome in cooling towers, ponds, swimming pools and other open water. Can be controlled by using a program of algaecides (algae killers}.
ALKALI - Opposite of acids. A material which gives a solution a pH above
pH 7. When the right amount of an alkali and acid are mixed, they neutralize each other resulting in a pH of 7 and the formation of a salt in the solution. Strong alkalies are caustic soda, caustic potash and ammonia (first cousin of amines}. Salts which are somewhat alkaline include phosphates, borax, soda ash, silicates, etc., which have pH's ranging from about pH 8 to pH 12.
BACTERICIDAL - Causing the destruction of bacteria; applied especially to chemical agents that kill both pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria but not necessarily bacterial spores.
BACTERIOSTAT - A product that does not necessarily destroy all infectious bacteria quickly, but will retard or prevent their growth or multiplication; bacteriostatic describes the action of the product.
BLEEDOFF - {See Blowdown}
BLOWDOWN - The water continuously or intermittently purged from a system to remove sludge and keep total dissolved solids at a desired concentration. Blowdown is often expressed as a percentage of steam produced or as a percentage of the evaporation rate.
BOILERS - A vessel, at pressure above atmosphere into which water can be supplied and by the application of heat, evaporated continuously into steam. There are several types. Most commonly, they are Packaged Boilers and most packaged boilers are Fire-tube boilers. Marine boilers are the most common type of water tube boilers.
BOILER HORSEPOWER (BHP) - Capacity to produce 34.5 pounds of steam per hour. -,2-
CARBONATE - Carbonates are compounds of carbon, oxygen and one other element or group, represented in the cleaning field by "soda Ash" which is sodium carbonate (an ingredient of many alkaline cleaning compounds), and by LIME SCALE in dishwashing machines, which is a mixture of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate (derived from calcium and magnesium hardness in the water), plus, of course, other compounds, food soil and so forth.
CARRYOVER - In a steam boiler contaminating solid or liquid material that is conveyed with steam into the steam pipes.
CATALYST - Something to speed up a chemical reaction without entering into the reaction. For example, a catalytic converter for automobile exhausts helps change carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide without becoming part of the reaction. Something that causes things to happen at a faster rate.
CATIONIC - Having positively charged particles or ions. Surface-active agents are known as cationic when the ion imparting surface activity is a cation.
CHELATING AGENT - Chelating agents are organic chemicals which "sequester" or "lock up" or otherwise render non-interferent the Salts in water which form scale such as iron, calcium and magnesium carbonates.
CHILLER - The heat exchanger in an air conditioning system which refrigerates. The closed water system which actually cools the (recirculating) air in a building. A closed system.
COAGULANT - An agent that promotes the separation from a liquid of a gel mass, often a "flock", which brings together tiny solid particles into larger clumps in the liquid.
COILS - In a cooling system, the narrow metal pipes through which a refrigerant is carried in a heat exchanger, condenser, air wash system or chiller.
COLLOID - A colloid is something which "doesn't quite dissolve". In other words, it is neither like salt which quickly and totally dissolves in water, nor like sand which just as quickly and just as totally does NOT dissolve. It is tiny.
COMPRESSOR - In cooling systems, a mechanical devise used to put refrigerant from gaseous to liquidous state under pressure.
CYCLES OF CONCENTRATION (CYCLES) - A measure of the degree to which dissolved solids are being concentrated in the circulating water or in a boiler.
DEAERATOR - A heater used to reduce the amount of dissolved gas in a boiler feed-water tank.
DEFLOCCULATION OR DISPERSION - Is the action of breaking up aggregates or flocs into individual particles. These many small particles are then more easily suspended and flushed off equipment. Phosphates are good soil dispersion agents.
DISTRIBUTION PAN - Shallow pan at top of a cooling tower with holes through its floor through which the heated water is emptied into the tower filling. Used to break up the water to speed up evaporation rate.
DRIFT - Also referred to as "windage" or "carryover" - Water lost from the tower as liquid droplets carried out by the exhaust air; usually expressed as a percentage of the circulation rate. "Drift eliminators" cut down "drift".
ECOLOGY - Referring to the natural processes of the earth and the mutual relations between organisms and their environment.
EFFLUENT - The outflow, such as the liquid discharge, from sewage treatment plants.
EMBRITTLEMENT - Destructive action of highly concentrated caustic boiler water on steel. Results in irregular cracking of the tubes and sides of the boiler. In alkaline systems, inhibitors must be used to prevent this.
FEEDERS - Usually a mechanical device by which chemical treatment can be metered or slug fed into water systems. Often, pumps are used.
FIRE POINT - Temperature at which a combustible material not only flashes, but continues to burn.
FLASH POINT - The lowest temperature at which a combustible liquid will give
off a flammable vapor which will burn momentarily when exposed to open flame.
Two standards for testing are the Tag Open Cup (TOC) and the Tag Closed Cup (TCC).
FLUE - A channel for hot gas; tubes in fire tube boilers are flues.
FUEL HEATER, PREHEATER - The cooker or vessel in which fuel oil is brought up to ignition temperature before being injected into a combustion chamber.
HARDNESS - A measure of the calcium and magnesium ion content in water. Carbonate or alkaline hardness is due to bicarbonates, carbonates and hydroxides of these elements.
HEAT LOAD - Heat removed from the circulating water in a cooling tower. Usually expressed Btu's per hour or Tons of Refrigeration.
HYDROCARBON - Compounds of hydrogen and carbon only. Includes gasoline, napthas, fuel oils and kerosene. All are combustible.
INDICATOR CHEMICAL - A compound used in determining presence of a chemical condition, pH indicator is used to measure pH.
INLET AIR - Air flowing into a cooling tower; same as prevailing air in the area and is as changeable as weather and local conditions.
ION - A charged particle usually formed when a chemical dissolves. For example, when salt crystals (sodium chloride} dissolve they form positive charged sodium ions (action or NA+) and negative charged chloride ions (anion or C1-).
ION EXCHANGE RESIN - Plastic resin used in softeners and deionizers to exchange ions in water for other ions, such as calcium and magnesium for sodium ions in softening and for hydrogen in deionizing.
LANGELIER INDES (Saturation Index) - A measure by which water conditions can be determined as to carbonate solubility.
LD (Lethal Dose) - A measurement used in evaluating algaecides, bacteriocides and other chemical agents.
LOUVERS - Slats in a cooling tower to maximize contact between the air and water droplets and increase evaporation rate.
MAKEUP - Water added to a boiler feed water tank or to a cooling tower sump to replace water or steam lost from the system by evaporation, leaks, windage or usage.
MHOS -A unit used in measuring conductance. In process water, the higher the mhos (or micro-mhos) the greater is the proportion of dissolved solids.
MICRO-ORGANISM - A tiny living organism, usually only visible under a microscope. Bacteria (rod shaped), spiral organisms, viruses, molds, spores, and yeast are examples.
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