Susan Brunner, GE Water & Process Technologies, 9669 Grogans Mill Road, The Woodlands, TX 77380, Mark Brayden, Dow Chemical Company, 21255 La. Hwy. 1, P.O. Box 400 Building 2504, Plaquemine, LA 70765, and Dwight Hines, BASF Corporation, P.O. Box 2506, Highway 366, Gate 99, Port Arthur, TX 77643.
From the ethylene quench system to the high pressure boilers, accurate pH measurement is important for proper control of process water chemistry to ensure asset protection and reliability. Measuring pH in oily quench water or high purity water can be misleading if not done under the proper conditions leading to potential corrosion issues, fouling, chemical overfeed and other process impacts. This presentation will review the basics of measuring pH, explain how temperature impacts the real pH, and cover how to avoid common mistakes in pH measurement.