Ultra-compact high-pressure boilers leave space to spare and reduced maintenance time

Aug. 15, 2002

In this installment of What Works, a company increases steam capacity to expand production.

When Tualitin, Ore.-based Pacific Nutritional Foods decided to expand its production capacity to meet the growing market demand for tofu, a high-protein soybean product, its process engineers determined that steam capacity had to be increased by 600 hp.

However, that presented a slight problem. The existing boiler room had only enough space to accommodate one 150-hp firetube boiler.

As a result, the project engineers recommended three, 200-hp, ultra-compact, high-pressure, watertube boilers from Miura Boiler West, Inc., Wheeling, Ill. Installation of the three Miura 200 EX boilers left space to spare in the boiler room. They also resulted in several other benefits, including reduced maintenance time and cost.

To expand its steam capacity, Pacific Nutritional Foods of Tualition, Oreg., opted for three 200-hp, high-pressure, watertube boilers manufactured by Muira.

The plant's existing 300-hp firetube boiler requires daily blowdowns. This is a necessary but time-consuming process, according to Kerry Nading, Pacific's maintenance manager.

Nading immediately saw that blowdown time for the two Miura boilers was less than the existing unit. Even more significant, the Miuras units required a blowdown every hundred hours rather than every 24. "That's approximately 20 minutes every one hundred hours," he says.

In addition, the Muira 200 EX boilers save money and time on boiler inspections. For example, the Muira design allows it to be turned off, drained of water and inspected in an hour and a half. Meanwhile, full pressure is achieved in five minutes.