Steam: Major Source for heating and electricity generation

The utility of steam is multifold and can be put to use in a variety of industries for multiple purposes. Steam is a secondary source of energy since it is produced from water by combustion of any type of primary source of fuel in a boiler. Steam is produced out of a single process of energy conversion; it is a cheap source of energy.

Following characteristics of steam make it an ideal medium for heat transfer applications:

• Efficient and economical to generate
• Uniform heating - easy to distribute
• Easy to control
• Easily transferred to the process by its own pressure
• Steam plant easy to maintain
• Heat transfer takes place at constant temperature

The applications for steam are heating processes in plants and steam driven turbines in electric power plants, used by the massive petrochemical complexes to the local microbrewery, steam is an integral part of these processes.

Steam is one of the most versatile utility in the industrial energy arena today. In addition to simple heating applications, it can also be deployed in various industrial processes like cleaning, sterilization, drying, concentration, separation and evaporation.

• In culinary applications, it preserves flavours, textures, and retains nutrients. For processing of vegetables and food, steam is used for sterilization and drying under vacuum.
• The use of steam in the industry for the purpose of cleaning does not harm surfaces, motors, bearing seals, sensors and machinery equipment. Hence the requirement of mask off or cover equipment prior to cleaning is not there. There is very less chance of any cross-contamination and thus it helps in faster clean up.
• The freshwater, naturally available from various sources, requires varying degrees of treatment before being fed to the boiler. Treatment of boiler feed water prevents the formation of scales and deposits, removes dissolved gases, protects against corrosion, eliminates water & steam carry-over, optimizes boiler efficiency and minimizes maintenance costs. Improper or nonexistent feed water treatment is the major cause of boiler failure.
• In biotechnology applications, steam is produced in various grades of purity. Steam ranges in purity from boiler grade for routine tasks, to culinary grade “Clean Steam” for food and dairy, and goes up to super pure, pyrogen-free steam for biopharmaceutical and intravenous use.
• In case of “dry saturated steam” there is a definite relationship between temperature and pressure of the steam. This characteristic of steam helps in controlling the processes precisely.
• In the frigid oil & gas fields, steam is used for heat tracing of tanks and pipelines to keep processes moving.

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