Properties of Saturated Steam - SI Units

A Saturated Steam Table with steam properties as specific volume, density, specific enthalpy and specific entropy

The steam table below list the properties of steam at varying pressures and temperatures:

• Absolute Pressure = Gauge Pressure + Atmospheric pressure.
• Specific enthalpy or Sensible Heat is the quantity of heat in 1 kg of water according to the selected temperature.

Example - Boiling Water at 100^oC and 0 bar

At atmospheric pressure - 0 bar gauge or absolute 101.33 kN/m² - water boils at 100^oC. 419 kJ of energy is required to heat 1 kg of water from 0^oC to the saturation temperature 100�C.

Therefore, at 0 bar gauge (absolute 101.33 kN/m²) and 100^oC - the specific enthalpy of water is 419 kJ/kg.

Another 2,257 kJ of energy is required to evaporate the 1 kg of water at 100^oC to steam at 100^oC. Therefore, at 0 bar gauge (absolute 101.33 kN/m²) - the specific enthalpy of evaporation is 2,257 kJ/kg.

The total specific enthalpy of the steam at atmospheric pressure and 100^oC can be summarized as:

h_s = 419 + 2,257

    = 2,676 kJ/kg

Example - Boiling Water at 170^oC and 7 bar

Steam at atmospheric pressure is of limited practical use. It cannot be conveyed by its own pressure along a steam pipe to the points of consumption.

At 7 bar gauge (absolute 800 kN/m²) - the saturation temperature of water is 170^oC. More heat energy is required to raise the temperature to the saturation point at 7 bar gauge than needed for water at atmospheric pressure. From the table a value of 720.9 kJ is needed to raise 1 kg of water from 0^oC to the saturation temperature 170^oC.

The heat energy (enthalpy of evaporation) needed at 7 bar gauge to evaporate the water to steam is actually less than the heat energy required at atmospheric pressure. The specific enthalpy of evaporation decrease with steam pressure increase. The evaporation heat is 2,047 kJ/kg according the table.

Note! Because the specific volume of steam decreases with increasing pressure, the amount of heat energy transferred in the same volume actually increases with steam pressure. In other words the same pipe may transfer more energy with high pressure steam than with low pressure steam.

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