Why do steam engines not recycle water?

You can't get the used steam back into the boiler while it's still steam: that would take huge amounts of pumping work. You have to actively cool it first, until it condenses back into liquid; then you can pump it in with a small amount of work because its volume is small.



People Also Ask

  • A steam engine is huge and heavy. ...
  • Steam engine has low efficiency.
  • Steam engine does not start at once.
  • Before a steam engine can start, one has to build a coal fire to get steam which takes a long time.


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Coal fired steam locomotives do produce a lot of CO2 emissions but also aerosols which has a cooling effect (global dimming), which cancels out some of the warming produced by CO2. Diesel locos probably produce less CO2 but also less aerosols that would cancel out the CO2.

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