Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies ISSN 1583-1078 Issue 7, July-December 2005 p. 41-48 Effect of Water Quality on the Performance of Boiler in Nigerian Petroleum Industry J. O. ODIGURE, A. S. ABDULKAREEM, and E. T. ASUQUO Chemical Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria kasaka2003@yahoo.com Abstract This work investigates quality of water used in boilers of Refinery Company in Nigeria. The results shows that the quality of water fed to boilers are off specification. Low water quality used in boilers led to frequent failure of the boilers as a result of tube rupture. This has resulted into low capacity utilization and loss of processing fees. The poor performance of the boiler feed treatment plant is attributable to the deplorable condition of water intake plant, raw water treatment, demineralization plant, change in raw water quality and non-functioning of the polisher unit. Keywords Water quality, Demineralization, Water treatment Introduction A boiler is a closed vessel in which water under pressure is transformed into steam by the application of heat. In the boiler furnace, the chemical energy in the fuel is converted into heat, and it is the function of the boiler to transfer this heat to the contained water in the most efficient manner. The boiler should also be designed to generate high quality of steam for plant use (Abdulrahamn, 2001). A boiler must be designed to absorb maximum amount of heat released in the process of combustion. This heat is transferred to the boiler water through 41 http://lejpt.academicdirect.org