Steam deaeration: Mechanism

  1. rollingstein

    rollingstein 621
    Gold Member

    On many boiler feed-water systems there are deaerators which essentially sparge steam through the water.

    Why does steam deaerate water? Is this simply a temperature effect on gas solubility? Or something else?
  2. jcsd
  3. SteamKing

    SteamKing 9,891
    Staff Emeritus
    Science Advisor
    Homework Helper

    The steam is used to heat the feed water to its saturation temperature for the pressure inside the deaerator.

    This is a practical application of Henry's Law, which states that when the partial pressure of a liquid equals the total pressure above the liquid (i.e., when the liquid reaches its boiling temperature), the solubility of any gases dissolved in the liquid drops to zero, and these gases are released.
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