Why use saturated steam?
Saturated steam, a condition in which steam contains no more energy than it took to evaporate water at a given pressure, is characterized by its temperature. To every generation pressure there is a corresponding saturation temperature; saturation temperature for each generation pressure can be read from a steam table. If steam is heated above the saturation temperature, we speak of superheated steam. Whenever steam is cooled below its saturation temperature, it condensates releasing the latent energy it took to evaporate. When using steam to heat other media, it is thus desirable to deliver it to the contact surface at saturation temperature, so that condensation occurs inmediately and heat release is maximized. Superheated steam reaching a heating surface will first cool down, releasing only part of its energy; only when its temperature has gone down to the saturation value, it will condensate. Thus the heating surface, i.e. a heat exchanger, will work only partially at full power. In
