| Summary: | Boilers are the heart of the palm oil mill industry in order to perform industrial processes effectively. This is where boiler feed water plays its role. Boiler’s efficiency and productivity is highly dependent on the quality of the boiler feed water fed into boilers. The quality of the boiler feed water degrades as the concentration of the impurities present increases. In this study, 37 palm oil mills from the state of Perak is chosen to conduct the qualitative analysis of boiler feed water based on the American Society and of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recommended standards. Total of 1427 data was sourced form Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) with an overall of
seven parameters of the boiler feed water is being investigated in this study. The variables are inclusive of pH value, total dissolved solids (TDS), hydrate alkalinity, total hardness, total chloride, total silica and total iron. The most general type of failure of the boilers that is affected by high concentration of impurities being studied is the corrosion and formation of scale in the boilers that affects the functionality of the boilers. From the results of the analysis, other than pH value of the boiler feed water, the remaining parameters shows major deviation from the ASME standards. Therefore, proper treatment of boiler feed water that consists of filtration, coagulation and flocculation, reverse osmosis, ion exchange and chemical internal treatment to target
the impurities is discussed to ensure smooth performance from boilers.
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