Typically fueled by natural gas, the steam boiler is the workhorse of a food facility. This pressure vessel produces the heat necessary for ovens, kettles, vessels, vats, reactors, water heating, and building heating. Boilers must be chosen with care: the food production process, fluctuating operational loads (now and projected), efficiency, maintenance cost and effort, and the availability of operational resources affect the type of boiler system available to you.
The key to designing energy efficient systems is to not just consider the peak efficiency of energy consuming equipment, but also the efficiency for the conditions during actual equipment operations. For example, a boiler heater might be rated highly efficient at a certain operating point temperature, but much less efficient at the actual operating point for which it will be used.
A food facility’s steam system consists of a boiler and its components, including condensate pumps, pressure and temperature valves, a deaerator, steam trap, and a blowdown separator. (A water treatment system for makeup water is also necessary.)
There are many types of boilers, yet two basic types are typically used in the food industry: fire-tube and water-tube boilers.