Background
There are an increasing number of situations where the concept of an outside contractor building, owning, operating, and maintaining (conveniently reduced to the acronym BOOM) a facility steam plant offers distinct economic and technical advantages to companies and institutions.  Such is the case with the U.S. Naval Air Station (NAS), located in Jacksonville, Florida.

Scope of Supply
Nationwide Boiler was the successful bidder in a competitive-bid, fixed-price contract to install, operate and maintain a 200,000 Ib/hr facility boiler system with a full complement of ancillary equipment. The equipment supplied remains the property of Nationwide Boiler. The contract required that Nationwide Boiler make the necessary modifications to an existing boiler room, install the specified equipment, and operate and maintain the system for a period of five years. Renewal provisions are included in the contract.

Project Summary
The existing NAS Jacksonville steam plant facility was surveyed. The required physical modifications necessary to accommodate the new boilers and ancillary equipment were completed using local contractors under the direction of a Nationwide Boiler field superintendent. Three new package boilers rated at 350 psig pressure were installed. These units included low NOx burners and economizers. A new water treatment plant was also provided and installed. System tests were conducted, verifying equipment performance and demonstrating that NOx emissions would meet the most stringent requirements throughout the turndown range. The entire project was completed in less than 45 days, making maximum use of fast- track procurement and management control techniques.

System Components
The steam plant built, owned, operated and maintained by Nationwide Boiler for the U.S. Navy at NAS Jacksonville consists of the following major subsystems:

• Three watertube package boilers rated at 75,000 Ib/hr net output at 350 psig saturated, including safety valves, automatic level and pressure controls
• Each boiler fitted with a low NOx burner capable of burning natural gas and #2 fuel oil. Burners utilize flue-gas recirculation to limit NOx emissions to below 30 ppm
• Make-up deaerator/condensate and feedwater system with pumps, valves, controls and instrumentation necessary to receive returning condensate, to provide deaerator make-up water, and for pumping feedwater to the boilers
• Water treatment systems, including softener, chemical feeders and water sampling station
• Condensate polishing equipment
• Blowdown tank
• Heat Recovery system

In addition to the equipment listed and taking full turnkey responsibility for installation design and on-site project management, Nationwide Boiler provides boiler operators for 24-hour operation, complete system inspection and maintenance and all water treatment chemicals.