Sulphite Tank

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 1/15 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The sulphite mixing tank in a boilerhouse plant room, heavily rusted, concrete footings eroded. Sulphite was added to the boiler feed water to control corrosion in the steam system. The Babcock and Wilcox boilers above produced 30,000 lb of steam per hour at 205 psi.

Edition

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Sulphite Tank
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-068
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/15 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 21 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A sulphite dosing tank at White Bay Power Station is a cylindrical steel vessel mounted on a fabricated steel cradle in the water treatment plant area. The tank body is welded plate, the top fitted with a fill hatch and a vent pipe. A dosing pump assembly is mounted alongside the tank on the same cradle, the pump connected to the tank outlet by a short section of copper tubing with isolating valves. The tank exterior shows rust along the seam welds and at the base where standing water has accumulated. The nameplate on the pump body gives the manufacturer and the rated output in litres per hour. A chemical dosing chart is fixed to the wall behind the tank.

Sulphite dosing at White Bay Power Station was part of the feedwater treatment system for the Babcock and Wilcox boilers. Adding sodium sulphite to the boiler feedwater removed dissolved oxygen, preventing corrosion of the boiler tubes from the inside. The eight boilers at White Bay produced steam at 205 psi and 588 degrees Fahrenheit for the station's Parsons turbines. Feedwater chemistry was critical to boiler life, and water treatment systems were maintained throughout the station's operational period from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. The station came under the Electricity Commission of NSW from January 1953 and continued under ECNSW management until the final shutdown. The water treatment plant was included in the 1990s site decontamination.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The No. 2 S.S. Feeder control panel hangs on the wall above a tangle of heavy cast-iron pipework and gate valves. A cylindrical sulphite tank stands to the right, its surface a deep ochre of layered rust. Green copper staining traces the joints where fittings meet corroded steel. Grit and powdered concrete cover the floor. Broken reinforced glass fills the window frames. Warm light falls across the tank and picks out every flake and pit in the metal.

Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

2015–2018 · 124 photographs

Bricklayers laid 3.7 million bricks at White Bay across three and a quarter years of Phase 1 construction, on Wanngal Country at the western edge of Rozelle. The New South Wales Government Railways ran the build through its own Construction Department. By 3 July 1913, boilers and alternators were running before the buildings that housed them were complete.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.