Maintenance Technology August 2017 - 41

SOLUTION FOCUS

In 1990, Morning Star added another facility in Los Banos.
Although this new site was capable of processing 530 tons of
tomatoes (producing 180,000 lb. of tomato paste) per hour,
soaring demand led to the opening of another plant in 1995.
Located in Williams, CA, its ability to handle approximately
630,000 tons of tomatoes (producing 200,000 lb. of tomato
paste) per hour makes it the largest tomato-processing facility
in the state.

Earlier boiler issues
"Morning Star revolutionized the tomato-processing industry by
being a primary processor," said Lou Brizzolara, a sales engineer
at AHM Associates (ahmassoc.com, Hayward, CA). A division
of Bay City Boiler & Engineering, AHM is a manufacturer's
representative serving energy users and producers in California,
Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii.
After issues had arisen with a boiler at another Morning
Star plant, AHM assisted in the selection of new boilers for the
Williams site. As Brizzolara explained, the previous problems
were related to installation and welding of the other boiler's
steam drum. This meant the system didn't initially meet its
guaranteed production levels.
At Williams, Morning Star opted for a solution incorporating
multiple elements: two boilers from Rentech Boiler Systems
(rentechboilers.com, Abilene, TX), and register burners and an
SCR system by John Zink Hamworthy (johnzink.com, Tulsa,
OK). All of this equipment plays a vital role in the facility's
production processes that use steam to boil, dehydrate, and
concentrate the paste.
As Ikerd described the process, steam is used to cook the
moisture off the product under vacuum, which keeps the boiling
point low. "The boilers have been wonderful," he noted, "but
the success of the installation was very much a collaboration
between our burner representatives and Rentech."
Personnel from AHM and Rentech worked closely with
burner and fan engineers Steve Bortz and Craig Biles of John
Zink Hamworthy to ensure project success. Bortz and Biles
had been involved in the previous boiler project. "While
earlier boiler installations had not been as successful and didn't
meet their performance guarantees during the first year, they
eventually achieved them due to the work of these engineers,"
said Ikerd.
The team brought many lessons learned from previous
installations, coupled with a solid understanding of the tomatoprocessing industry. This insight proved invaluable in avoiding
the same errors that had occurred in the earlier boiler project,
including, for example, challenges associated with ultra-low
NOx burners.
While those burners had been effective in narrowing the
window of combustion and reducing NOx to below 15 ppm,

California produces more than 98% of the overall U.S. tomato output.
Morning Star Packing's facility in Williams, CA, can process 630 tons of
tomatoes (200,000 lb. of tomato paste) per hour.

Ikerd said this made boiler operation more finicky and less reliable. If ultra-low NOx burners were to be avoided, the Morning
Star Williams operation had to find a suitable alternative.
California, after all, is known for its rigorous environmental

Opposite page. Morning Star Packing Co. supplies 40% of the
U.S. ingredient-tomato-paste and diced-tomato markets. Its site
in Williams, CA, (shown here) is the largest tomato-processing
facility in the state.
AUGUST 2017

MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM | 41

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