Power October 2022 + 140th Anniversary Supplement - 41

BOILERS
3. One of Nationwide's 70,000 lb/hr rental boilers is shown here being loaded onto an Antonov
AN-124 cargo aircraft for shipment to a refinery in Australia. Courtesy: Nationwide Boiler
says. " Because our mobile boiler systems
are engineered and manufactured from
the ground up, we essentially ensure the
delivered package is self-contained, with
single point connections to an electrical
power source, fuel and water supplies,
steam header, and even blowdown/drains
that are required for operation. "
McBride said Nationwide Boiler offers
rental boilers that supply 1,000 lb/hr up
to 200,000 lb/hr in a single package, with
options for both saturated and superheat
steam supply. With more than 100 boilers
in their fleet, multiple boilers can be
combined to meet steam requirements
of more than 500,000 lb/hr (Figure 2).
" The majority of our users are industrial
production facilities such as oil refineries,
chemical facilities, food processing
plants, and pulp and paper plants. The
loss of production drives the economics
of renting a boiler, " he said.
Logistics
Lead times vary depending on the urgency
of a customer's situation. It can
take a day or two in emergency cases
to months when a steam outage or
maintenance period is scheduled well
in advance. " Generally, the larger the
boiler, the longer the shipping time,
mainly due to highway permitting requirements, "
McBride said. " Our largest
boilers (200,000 lb/hr) are delivered by
rail, which can take up to two months for
scheduling and delivery. We've also used
the Antonov AN-124 giant cargo plane
[Figure 3] for rental boiler delivery around
the world when they needed it quickly. "
Kaled said the market for rental boilers
has been booming. Victory Energy has numerous
rental units in its fleet, but Kaled
said they were at 100% utilization in early
September 2022. " We're going through a
October 2022 | POWER
very-high-demand period for the rentals, "
Kaled said. " And so, when it comes to lead
time, we can accommodate customers
that depend on Victory. As the manufacturer,
we have produced additional rental
units to deploy in the fleet and to grow our
assets, so we can support the unplanned
demands of our customers. "
Victory Energy has been able to slash
lead times by 30% to 40% compared to
industry averages, according to Kaled,
because it is vertically integrated and
manages its supply chain well. " Our leadership-and
particularly our president
and CEO-is laser focused on making
sure that we control our manufacturing
needs, " Kaled said. " We have been able
to reduce the lead time very significantly. "
Concerning delivery, Kaled said Victory
Energy's logistics department is very experienced
and capable. " We plan and execute
all the logistics for our customers, whenever
they ask us to handle any particular
part of the task, " he said. There can be a
variety of rules and regulations when moving
equipment through different states, so
not only having experts in charge, but also
one's own trucks and trailers to support
boiler deliveries, can really pay dividends.
" Our logistics team is very knowledgeable
and knows exactly how to get the
asset to the customer in the safest and
the soonest time possible, " Kaled said.
" I mean, this is our daily life. That's exactly
what we do-make sure that we are
well-coordinated with the customer and
orchestrating the entire delivery process. "
Early Planning Helps
Yet, the farther ahead a facility can plan
to fill temporary steam needs, the better.
" The best time to plan for installing
a temporary steam plant is before
the need actually arises, " said McBride.
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" Most of the issues we typically overcome
are related to the installation and
utilities connections. We did a study several
years ago and 75% of the time to
get a rental boiler up and running was
not due to the delivery of the unit but the
time for tie-in requirements to the plant
such as running steam lines, electrical
stations, and fuel supply. "
McBride said Nationwide Boiler's
customers typically handle the installation
of rental boiler equipment, so it's
important that they understand what
they're renting. " We provide complete
engineering drawing packages that list
measurements and connection sizes so
that they have this information ahead of
time, " McBride explained. " The commissioning
of a rental boiler is no different
than your permanent boiler. Units need
to be fully checked for safe and proper
operation, and combustion tuning done
including emissions testing (for permitting
requirements). It's usually a two- to
five-day process in most cases. "
Many rental boiler suppliers also have
the capability to provide mobile water
treatment systems designed to operate
with their boilers. Victory Energy and Nationwide,
for example, offer optional systems
that can include deaerators, water
softeners, boiler feedwater pumps, and a
chemical treatment system, all pre-piped
and wired within a standard 53-foot overthe-road
enclosed trailer.
Perhaps the best advice, however, is
to do plenty of research before committing
to a boiler rental. McBride concluded:
" It's important for customers to do
their homework to ensure that they are
renting from a reputable company that
maintains a fleet of purpose-built rental
boiler equipment. They should also be
aware of all customer responsibilities,
which typically includes the installation
and disassembly of rental equipment,
acquisition of air and operating permits,
and proper water treatment throughout
the duration of the rental to avoid
damage and ensure efficient operation.
Customers are also expected to carry
insurance that covers the full value of
rental boiler equipment. Lastly, rental
boilers are really not plug and play,
there's a lot more to installing and operating
a boiler than say, a generator. We
like to make sure our customers are not
surprised by what's involved with renting
a boiler, because nobody likes surprises,
especially when it involves more
time and money. " ■
-Aaron Larson is POWER's
executive editor.
41

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Power October 2022 + 140th Anniversary Supplement

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