US-based custom extracts and nutritional supplements company RFI Ingredients recently opted for compact and efficient boilers, instead of the traditional fire-tube boilers, owing to the compact boilers’ fast start-up capabilities and consistent steam supply.

RFI Ingredients ordered three LX-150 series gas-fired boilers, manufactured by industrial steam boiler manufacturer Miura, for its two Colorado-based facilities – the Loveland and Broomfield plants – in the US.

RFI plant manager Ryan Ricketson says the company requires its boilers to maintain a level, consistent steam pressure during normal operations, as well as from a cold start.

“We use steam to heat our dual-drum dryers, in which we dry cereal grasses such as wheat, barley, oats and alfalfa,” he says. The company also uses steam for the heat exchangers in the heating loops, which are used to manufacture liquid extracts, and for the fully jacketed tanks used for fermentation, batch pasteurisation and liquid blending. “The pressure of that steam versus its temperature must, therefore, be precise for what we do,” says Ricketson.

Miura boilers are microprocessor-controlled for precision operation and use a ‘once-through’ finned-tube design that heats a smaller volume of water more efficiently than other boilers. This design enables Miura boilers to generate full steam from a cold start in five minutes or less. This on-demand steam capability enables Miura boilers to be turned on or off as needed to efficiently manage changing load conditions, as opposed to idling on standby and consuming energy.

The combination of microprocessor-control technology and on-demand steam also conserves fuel, saving a yearly average of 20% on energy costs over other boiler designs for typical installations.

“You can shut the Miura boiler down at the end of the day, turn it on the first thing next morning, have a quick recovery time and be up to full steam. It will run all day,” he adds.

“As a new company that had never used a boiler before, we did a lot of research before we bought the Miura LX-150s,” states Ricketson.

“We found that Miura is not only a popular brand in our area, which includes breweries and hospitals, but that Miura boilers also have a seven-year warranty,” he says, adding that a traditional fire-tube boiler comes with a 30-day warranty at least, or a one-year warranty at most.

The size of the Miura boilers enabled RFI Ingredients to build a smaller boiler room than usually required for traditional boilers, which allowed the company more production space for larger blenders and other equipment.

“When you are growing a company, space is incredibly valuable to you. There is no way we could have fitted a horizontally configured fire-tube boiler into our Loveland facility,” says Ricketson.

In addition to the on-demand steam and energy-conservation benefits of Miura boilers – especially when compared with conventional boilers – Miura also expels low levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) – a major contributor to air pollution – as well as carbon dioxide (CO2), the most prevalent of greenhouse gases.
 

Miura boilers achieve low-NOx performance by reducing the temperature of the boiler’s flame which, in turn, reduces the amount of activated nitrogen atoms available to bond with oxygen, which forms nitrogen oxides. As a result, NOx emissions are reduced to around one-quarter of the emissions of traditional fire-tube boilers.

This enables Miura boilers to comply with even the most stringent air-quality regulations. With regard to reduced CO2 emissions, Miura’s technology leverages superior operating efficiency to contribute to significant carbon abatement, with a payback.

“I call Miura our ‘green’ boilers,” he notes. “Colorado has strict emissions rules, and that is another reason why Miura boilers are so important to us. You do not see a giant plume of gas coming out of our roof stack, which is good because we also have to maintain the aesthetics of our building. From the outside, you cannot tell the kind of work we do,” says Ricketson.
 

Miura’s innovative BL microcontroller boiler control system further contributes to its green, energy-saving performance.

This built-in software constantly measures multiple individual monitoring points and provides operational statuses on pressure, temperature and other factors on an easy-to-read built-in control panel. As a self-diagnostic feature, it identifies any problems that might arise and suggests solutions, which are displayed on a light-emitting diode screen. The control panel also includes a green/yellow/red light display for immediate, at-a-glance status updates that can be seen easily from a distance.

“We have a window that looks into the boiler room, so you can actually check the status as you are walking past,” he notes.
This easy-to-use control system eliminates maintenance and repair guesswork, enabling RFI Ingredients to call out a repair technician and provide a diagnosis of the issue before the technician is on site.

“It is a time- and money-saver, and for a guy like me who does not want to watch a boiler all day long, that is priceless,” says Ricketson.
 

Miura’s BL microcontroller boiler control system can also be accessed through the Internet using Miura Online Maintenance (MOM) for remote monitoring and diagnostics. MOM comes standard with every Miura boiler.