Industry

Food Processing 

Location

Birmingham, AL

Equipment Selected

Armstrong Flo-Direct Industrial Instantaneous Water Heater

Grundfos Hydro MPC pumping system

Armstrong Emech^® industrial mixing valve stations

Background

A leading food manufacturer in Birmingham, Alabama that produces a variety of sauces, spreads, dips and cooking oils requires varying temperatures of hot water for their batch and sanitation processes.  Their existing hot water system was out of date, inefficient and in need of replacement. Steam from the boiler was being utilized to heat a large hot water tank.  The tank’s heat exchanger bundle and gaskets were requiring replacement on a regular basis.  Temperatures being sent from the hot water tank were inconsistent, so they were experiencing problems with temperature control, reliability and overall accuracy.  During the sanitation process, the boiler was experiencing large load spikes.  The challenge was to alleviate the process filling temperature issues while stabilizing the boiler load.

Results

ADCO Companies LTD., in conjunction with the engineering manager at the facility, developed a solution to separate the hot water system from the steam system while improving temperature accuracy and flow of hot water for the plant. 

• An Armstrong Flo-Direct Direct fired water heater was selected for the hot water generation.  The Flo-Direct is capable of heating cold make-up water to the desired temperature and flow instantaneously at efficiencies of 99.7% versus 80% – 84% from the steam system.

• A new 8000-gallon stainless steel storage tank was installed for hot water storage. 

• A Grundfos Hydro MPC pumping system was installed near the storage tank. The pumping system uses variable frequency drives and an advanced control platform to deliver the hot water into the plant at the desired flow rate and pressure.

• Two Armstrong Emech^® industrial mixing valve stations were installed in separate locations within the plant to control the precise water temperatures needed during various batch filling processes.

Now, the plant’s control network manages the valves and the pumping system to deliver the required flow and temperatures to the batch filling processes. ADCO provided installation and start-up services for the entire project.

Go online to learn more about Armstrong’s Flo-Direct Direct Water Heater, EMECH^® Digital Control Valves or the Grundfos MPC boosting system.

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