Maintenance Technology August 2017 - 42

SOLUTION FOCUS

A recently installed system, incorporating
new boilers, register burners, and an SCR,
at the Morning Star Packing Co. facility
in Williams, CA, has boosted the plant's
steam-generating capacity while maintaining emissions within acceptable limits.

regulations. Areas of the state where
air pollution levels persistently exceed
Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS)
are designated non-attainment. The
standards for non-attainment counties
are tough for a reason: to protect public
health, safety, and welfare. Counties
falling outside of such standards are still
required to meet emissions levels that fall
far below those of most other states.
While the Williams plant is not in
a non-attainment district, it still has
to satisfy stringent requirements. The
county air-quality control office set a
strict limit of 25-tons/yr. of NOx for

Morning Star. This made it difficult for
the company to execute its expansion
strategy. If it had opted for the same
boilers and burners as usual, it would
have greatly exceeded its NOx quota.
However, the combination of the John
Zink Hamworthy register burners and
SCR, along with Rentech boilers meant
that capacity could be greatly increased
while remaining in compliance on emissions levels. The register burners selected
for Williams brought NOx levels down

Looking to refocus or revitalize
your maintenance program?
Looking to prepare for ISO 55001 certification?
Does your program currently:
P Lack confidence in its

P Lack the time to

P Lack strategic direction?
P Lack effective

P Lack succession planning?
P Lack effective work

maintenance data?

communication?

complete all work?

planning and scheduling?

If you answered YES to any of the above,
call Ken Bannister at ENGTECH Industries Inc-
successfully implementing usable asset management
programs for over 27 years-at (519) 469-9173
or email kbannister@engtechindustries.com
and let's talk maintenance!

Helping People manage People who Manage Assets!
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to less than 30 ppm, which the SCR then
reduced to 5 ppm.
The expansion project effectively
doubled steam-generating capacity
at Williams. Previously, capacity was
around 680,000 lb./hr. The new boilers
have raised that to 1,360,000 lb./
hr. Increased capacity and lower emissions are only half the story. 
"These larger Rentech boilers can
go from minimum fire to full fire at
the same speed as the smaller units we
already have, which allows us to have
much more flexibility," observed Ikerd. 
"If the larger units are not at full fire, we
can simply shut down one of the smaller
boilers, without fear of causing an upset
in our processes that we cannot recover
from. Thus the plant's stability has been
greatly increased." 
Boiler efficiency has also been raised:
from below 80% to around 85%. For
a business whose highest operating
cost is fuel, this equates to a welcome
reduction in the cost of steam. Due to
their size, these D-type boilers with a
full-membrane furnace had to have the
steam drums shipped separately. The
sections were then assembled on site.
The reassembly and welding of the boiler
components may have proven problematic during an earlier boiler installation
project, but not this time.
"Rentech helped us reach our capacity
guarantees within the first year while
our other boilers took a few years to
achieve them due to startup problems,"
said Ikerd. "We have now used them for
a complete season, during which they've
run 24/7 for three months straight,
without a hiccup." MT
Visit rentechboilers.com for more details.

MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY

AUGUST 2017
1/8/15 4:12 PM
http://www.engtechindustries.com http://www.rentechboilers.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology August 2017
