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Nationwide Boiler news and events, industry updates, technical resources and more. You hear it first on The Nationwide Boiler Blog!

Boilers Take Flight on the Antonov

b2ap3_thumbnail_NB-563.jpgIt is amazing to know that a package boiler can be shipped anywhere in the world within a number of days. Last month Nationwide Boiler supplied a late model 70,000 pph trailer-mounted watertube boiler to Powerhouse Equipment & Engineering Company, our East Coast Partner, for a sale to a ConocoPhillips LNG plant in Australia. The boiler, along with a new Powerhouse supplied 75,000 pph skid-mounted watertube boiler was airlifted on the Antonov AN124-100 aircraft from San Francisco International airport to Darwin, Australia. It took a total of three days for the boilers to reach their final destination, having to stop for re-fueling in Alaska, Russia and the Philippines.

Over the last seven years, the Antonov has also been used to ship our boilers to New Brunswick and the Philippines. Also, five of our boilers have been shipped to Wales, Israel, Venezuela and Malaysia and several of our trailer-mounted watertube boilers have gone to China and Scotland for rental projects (via special transport ship).

By air, land, rail and sea, you can depend on Nationwide Boiler to deliver quality equipment and cost effective solutions anywhere in the world. 

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Deaerator Basics

The removal of dissolved oxygen from boiler feedwater is absolutely necessary to protect your boiler equipment from severe corrosion. To ensure trouble-free boiler operation, a good deaerator is essential.

Deaerators in industrial steam systems are mechanical devices used to remove air and other dissolved gases from boiler feedwater in order to protect the system from corrosion. Dissolved oxygen in boiler feedwater will attach to the walls of metal piping and other metallic equipment and will form oxides (rust). It also combines with any dissolved carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid that causes further corrosion. A dissolved oxygen level of 5 parts per billion (PPB) or lower is needed to prevent corrosion in most high pressure boilers, accomplished by reducing the concentration of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide to a level where corrosion is minimized.

The two major types of deaerators are the tray type and the spray type. In both cases, the major portion of gas removal is accomplished by spraying cold makeup water into a steam environment.

Tray-type deaerating heaters release dissolved gases in the incoming water by reducing it to a fine spray as it cascades over several rows of trays. The steam that makes intimate contact with the water droplets then scrubs the dissolved gases by its counter-current flow. The steam heats the water to within 3-5º F of the steam saturation temperature and it should remove all but the very last traces of oxygen. The deaerated water then falls to the storage space below, where a steam blanket protects it from recontamination.

Nozzles and trays should be inspected regularly to insure that they are free of deposits and are in their proper position.

Spray-type deaerating heaters work on the same general philosophy as the tray-type, but differ in their operation. Spring-loaded nozzles located in the top of the unit spray the water into a steam atmosphere that heats it. The steam heats the water, and at the elevated temperature the solubility of oxygen is extremely low and most of the dissolved gases are removed from the system by venting. The spray will reduce the dissolved oxygen content to 20-50 ppb, while the scrubber or trays further reduce the oxygen content to approximately 7 ppb or less.

During normal operation, the vent valve must be open to maintain a continuous plume of vented vapors and steam at least 18 inches long. If this valve is throttled too much, air and non-condensable gases will accumulate in the deaerator. This is known as air blanketing and can be remedied by increasing the vent rate.

For optimum oxygen removal, the water in the storage section must be heated to within 5º F of the temperature of the steam at saturation conditions. From inlet to outlet, the water is deaerated in less than 10 seconds. Call us today is you have additional questions about deaerators and how important they are to your entire system.
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Jerryco & Nationwide Boiler Unite

Nationwide Boiler recently announced the signing of a new sales representative for the Houston territory, Jerryco Machine & Boiler Works. This new relationship will help support Nationwide Boiler and Nationwide Environmental Solutions, a strategic business unit of Nationwide Boiler, support its customers in the rental and sale of boilers, environmental control equipment and related auxiliary equipment.

Check out our latest press release for more information and visit www.jerrycoboilers.com to learn more about Jerryco and their long tradition of providing complete customer satisfaction.
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Tips to Maintain Air Compliance

We recently came across an article in Pollution Engineering that highlights an important issue for all major facilities - air fines and how to avoid them. It is everyone's responsibility to ensure compliance and the best way to do so is by educating yourself and your team and by networking with others in the industry. Below highlights the main points from the article, but please visit the link above for a more detailed approached.

1.     Compliance is a team effort and the best preventive measure is to keep the entire team aware and fully briefed on where the facility stands in regards to compliance. With everyone in the know, compliance becomes a vested interest and a shared responsibility.

2.     A basic review of your facility's Title V permit, a federally enforceable document that provides parameters on plant emissions, is a good first start. A review of the basic allowable permissions contained in the permit will lead the way.

3.     Set a date for a frequent (yearly) review of the Title V permit. This will help flag inconsistencies and avoid further inspections and notices of violation (NOV).

4.     Get to know your local inspectors and do not hesitate to ask them for guidance. Ask them informative questions about what common violations they have seen lately and what others in the industry are doing to keep in good standing.

5.     Check out the following websites: The EPA's Acid Rain Inspectors Guide and the Clean Air Markets Division.

6.     To help keep abreast of changing regulations, join an association membership and attend industry events (conferences, seminars and tradeshows). Organizations such as the ABMA, CIBO and others update their members on a continual basis.

7.     Subscribe to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Monthly Digest Bulletin. This e-magazine can be subscribed to by emailing usaepa@govdelivery.com. 

8.     Show pride in maintaining compliance and recognize and reward employees for their efforts in maintaining compliance.

9.     When evaluating vendors for stack testing, check their references, inquire about their experience in performing the tests needed to stay in compliance, and make sure that their work is conducted to the highest standards. Ask vendors if they are a Qualified Stack Test Individual, or QSTI.

10. Let your customers know about your compliance goals and your efforts to maintain "green" in your facility. Also promote this message to your stakeholders in the community.

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