Fluorescent-tagged polymers for determining concentration of additives in boiler water systems

摘要

The application is for a method for determining a concentration of an anionically charged water soluble boiler water treatment polymer in a boiler water system. The boiler water system includes a source of a feedwater stream to the system as a first system parameter, a source of a blowdown stream from the system as a second system parameter, as well as a source of the soluble polymer in the boiler water as a third system parameter. The soluble polymer undergoes a hydrothermal reaction at boiler water system operating conditions. The soluble polymer contains at least 0.01 % mer units of spectrophotometrically emitting moieties bound to the polymer chain . The method comprises the steps of: a) measuring at least one spectrophotometric characteristic of the soluble polymer contained in a sample of the boiler water; b) converting the characteristic to an electrical signal corresponding to the concentration of the soluble polymer in the boiler water; c) comparing the electrical signal corresponding to the concentration of the soluble polymer in the boiler water to an electrical signal corresponding to a desired concentration of the soluble polymer in the boiler water; and then d) determining a gain or loss of the soluble polymer in the boiler water.