Feed mills and microbiology plants run heat-intensive processes with sharp load swings. Grain conditioning and pelleting call for dry saturated steam at a steady pressure, while fermentation, drying and sterilisation depend on clean and repeatable parameters. You need a boiler house that holds those parameters through every shift, not only at rated load.
What these processes ask of the boiler house
Heat in a feed mill sets the quality of the finished pellet: starch gelatinisation, die and roller temperature, moisture removal and pathogen control all follow from the state of the steam that arrives at the process.
Steam dryness matters more than installed capacity. Droplets over-wet the meal and cause caking in the conditioner, while a pressure dip alters the heat treatment regime or costs you a sterilisation batch.
- Grain conditioning
- Saturated steam gelatinises starch, improves nutrient availability and suppresses pathogenic microflora before pressing.
- Pelleting and extrusion
- Stable die and roller temperatures hold pellet density and durability within specification.
- Drying
- Surplus moisture leaves the product so it can be stored for long periods without loss of nutritional value.
- Sterilisation
- Autoclaves, media vessels, pipework and fermenters take steam of a defined pressure and temperature, free of pulsation.
- Cleaning and hot water
- Wash-down and process hot water draw on the same plant, usually while production is at its peak.
Equipment that suits feed and microbiology sites
Plant is sized on peak steam demand, the depth of load swings and the hours spent at part load, then split between one boiler with wide turndown and two units in a lead and lag sequence.
Steam boilers and steam generators
HERO three-pass boilers cover 0.3–5 t/h at up to 15 bar and 201 °C, and TRIPASS extends the same principle to 1–16 t/h for multi-line plants. PILLAR at 0.1–0.5 t/h and the PULSE and RAPID once-through generators at 0.12–8 t/h come up to parameters quickly, which suits single-shift and seasonal work. TOR covers low-pressure duties to 0.7 bar, MIRA X the largest loads.
Thermal oil, hot water and heat recovery
Where a dryer or extruder needs more than saturated steam can practically give, MAGMA and CRUX thermal oil boilers deliver 150–10 000 kW at up to 300 °C without high circuit pressure. CORE, CORE DUO and TRINITY serve space heating and sanitary water; PHOENIX and ECHO turn exhaust heat back into steam.
Clean steam for microbiology
The steam system is built in two layers. In-drum separation lifts dryness to 99.7% and above, keeping droplets that carry dissolved solids out of the header. Where the product must never meet boiler water, a converter or a separate clean steam generator fed from the main boiler supplies steam of far higher purity.
Media, capacity and operating ranges
- Saturated steam
- 0.1–16 t/h at up to 15 bar and 201 °C for conditioning, pelleting, sterilisation and drying.
- Hot water
- 50–6000 kW at up to 6 bar and 115 °C for building heating, sanitary water and cleaning circuits.
- Thermal oil
- 150–10 000 kW at up to 300 °C for high-temperature drying and extrusion, at low circuit pressure.
- Recovered heat
- Waste heat units to 15 t/h of steam, sized on the exhaust flow available on site.
Reliability and day-to-day operation
Service life here is settled mainly by water chemistry. A softening and treatment package, a DEGAS deaerator and a controlled blowdown regime hold scale and dissolved oxygen away from the heating surfaces. BOOST and ECO lift efficiency, while BUFFER, STORE and EXPAND vessels absorb peaks and limit burner cycling.
CONTROL automation holds pressure in a narrow band and answers a change in demand in fractions of a second. Digital Twin telemetry logs burner modulation, feedwater quality, flue gas temperature and blowdown, so drift shows up as a trend rather than an unplanned stop.
How we run a project
We ask for process data first: hourly and peak steam demand per line, working pressure and temperature, condensate return, fuel on site and the space available. The heat balance follows, then a scheme with a stated reason for the choice.
- Design and manufacture
- Pressure equipment to EN 12952 and EN 12953 and to PED 2014/68/EU, under an ISO 9001 system with documented material and weld records.
- Works testing
- Hydraulic and functional tests before dispatch, with burner and control settings logged so site work starts from a known set-up.
- Installation and commissioning
- Supervision on site, burner tuning to your fuel, water treatment set-up and safety device verification.
- Operation and support
- Operator training, spare parts planning and remote monitoring through the first production season and beyond.