Boilers are an integral part of the processing industry’s success, providing steam for a variety of manufacturing applications. When a facility boiler goes down for planned maintenance or an upset occurs, the lost production time can be costly. 

In so many factories these days, the focus is “Safety is no accident,” and personnel well-being is prioritized more than ever. The benefits of a safety culture in an industrial setting are many: improved worker happiness and retention, reduced insurance costs and higher productivity.

Many refinery complexes in Texas are aging: At sites across the region, it is not uncommon to find boilers that are more than 50 years old. As a result, these facilities can be hit with costly unplanned outages as well as being subject to higher fuel costs due to inefficiency. 

One characteristic common to many electric utility companies is the mix of sizes and technologies at the utility’s various plants. This means efforts to improve performance and reduce costs can vary from plant to plant.

Galvanized coatings for cooling tower systems — cooling towers, evaporator tube bundles and others — have been used since the 1950s due to their relatively low cost and long service life. 

In Process Heating's annual Equipment Overview on Heat Transfer Fluids, we have compiled all the data you need to choose a fluid that can take the heat - and move it to wherever you need it to go.

Since this column will appear in our January issue, I can finally tell you about a project that has been in the works for quite a while: our new eBook on thermal fluid heating for industrial processes.

Located in the famed Lambeau Field stadium district, the craft brewer chooses on-demand steam for reliable, efficient operation, and green initiatives.

Epcon developed a proprietary system for dual-laying and triple-laying wicket ovens for a repeat customer. The ovens were designed for high production efficiency and will process 720 to 750 steel drums per hour.

NyCast AB won the Kanthal Award 2019 for an electrical heater that has the potential to contribute to an industrial future without greenhouse gas emissions.

An electrical component manufacturing company will use a batch oven for product testing and curing coatings on electronics. The Blue M clean-room oven, shipped by Thermal Product Solutions, is designed with a maximum temperature range of 60°F (15°C) above ambient to 662°F (350°C).

A multi-lane curing conveyor oven will increase production for a United States-based parts manufacturer. Shipped by International Thermal Systems, the oven has proprietary top-down airflow to ensure uniform processing of a range of steel and plastic parts.

A large international manufacturer will used two walk-in ovens to heat up molds to 220°F (105°C), with each mold weighing approximately 900 lb. The ovens, supplied by Lewco Inc., contain a custom rack with five shelves capable of handling up to five molds per batch.

PM Plus, an enhanced version of the EZ-Zone PM temperature controller, is more intuitive than its predecessor and includes an improved user interface for easier setup, programming and readability.

An ultra-low-NO_X boiler installed in California that can produce packaged steam consistently and predictably for 2 ppm NO_X or less was installed at Pratt Industries in Lathrop, Calif. Boiler system maker Hurst Boiler Co. of Coolidge, Ga., partnered with Boiler & Steam Performance, Weishaupt Burner, California Boiler and Nationwide Boiler's CataStak SCR to configure and install the system.

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) will hold its 91st annual meeting on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas March 12-16, 2020, departing from Tampa, Fla. This four-day event will deliver educational programming, committee work and time for social interaction.

A two-zone, bottom-flow conveyor oven will be used to cure a latex barrier coating onto maple syrup bottles. The electrically heated oven, which has a maximum operating temperature of 150°F (66°C), is designed for a production rate of 3,200 bottles per hour.

A Midwest candy manufacturer will utilize a catalytic oxidizer for the abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The 2,000-scfm unit, supplied by Catalytic Products International (CPI), will control the VOC emissions from the application of an alcohol-based confectioners glaze from an extrusion line, dip bath and flash-off area. It will destroy VOC emissions from the process with 98 percent destruction efficiency.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released a factual update into the June 21, 2019, explosion and fire at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery in Philadelphia, Pa. The update notes that a corroded pipe elbow appears to have ruptured in the alkylation unit, releasing process fluid that included over 5,000 lb of hydrofluoric (HF) acid.

Continuing its tradition of donating the entry fees generated by its Innovation Awards program to a worthy local cause, AHR Expo has donated $26,300 to the Central Florida Police Athletic League (P.A.L.). 

Designed to provide freeze protection and process temperature maintenance for high power, high exposure industrial heat-tracing applications, Raychem mineral-insulated heating units ensure operational reliability and corrosion resistance in harsh environments. 

Offered for rent on a temporary basis, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems utilize a 32.5 percent liquid urea solution, commonly known as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), as the reagent. 

Kromschröder BCU 4 Series is a multi-functional, modular control solution designed for directly ignited or pilot/main burners of unlimited capacity in intermittent or continuous operation, and for modulated or step-controlled gas burners.

Drying system includes an integral baghouse dust collector positioned directly above the fluid bed drying zone. The configuration is designed to contain all of the fine particles entrained in the airstream and allow them to remain in the dryer for processing as product rather than collecting them remotely or accepting their loss as waste. 

Two standard variations of ceramic insulation for box furnaces are rigid ceramic fiber boards and flexible blankets. They are manufactured using strands of refractory silicate compressed or woven into a lightweight textile, with excellent inherent strength and low thermal conductivity.

The Admag Total Insight is a lifecycle-aware magnetic flow meter that reduces OpEx and downtime by monitoring the health of the flow meter without removing it from the process.

With a firing range of 15,000 to 200,000 MBH, Model FDR(X) combines a windbox, air register, ignition assembly, fuel train, flame-safety control, combustion control, flue-gas recirculation system and forced-draft blower into a packaged unit. 

RotaBed fluidized bed scrubber is designed to handle gas capacities from 500 through 250,000 acfm. A swirl-induced Coriolis grid achieves good fluidized-bed stability, resulting in efficient gas mixing and transfer efficiency.

The walk-in oven has 4” thick insulated walls and an aluminized steel interior and exterior.  A four-port vacuum manifold, with pressure gauge and hand valve on each port, is included on the oven, as is a solenoid valve to bleed air into the manifold and a resin trap leading to the vacuum pump.

The LX Gas/Low NOX Series is offered with boiler models ranging from 50 to 300 hp.  The industrial boilers use natural gas or propane and are available in a range of steam pressure options (300, 170 or 15 MAWP).

Blue M industrial ovens have temperature ranges of 27°F (15°C) above ambient to 662°F (350°C). They are designed with semi-perforated walls that allow for tuning of the oven airflow to maximize heating rates and uniformity. 

Designed to protect and warm the contents of containers in hazardous areas, ATEX-certified heaters for drums, IBC tanks and gas bottles can be safely used in hazardous areas.