Food and beverage plants use heat as an ingredient. Pasteurisation, sterilisation, cooking, evaporation, frying, roasting and drying are all defined by temperature and time, and washing and CIP cycles depend on hot water held to a set point. Clean, dry steam and stable process heat are therefore part of product safety, not only of the energy bill.
What food processes require of the boiler house
In food and beverage production heat is part of the recipe. Steam goes into ovens and proving chambers, into jacketed pans and stills, and into pasteurising, sterilising and cooking; hot water carries washing, CIP and disinfection; hot air dries pasta, meal, tea leaf and beet pulp.
Two load patterns shape the plant. Shift work brings simultaneous demand at start-up and after sanitation stops, so the plant has to raise steam quickly and hold pressure as ovens, pans and washing lines come on load. Sugar and canning run seasonal campaigns at close to full load around the clock, where downtime spoils raw material.
Steam quality, CIP and hygiene
Where steam meets the product directly or through a heat transfer surface, its quality is a food safety matter. In-boiler separation holds moisture content low, so the header delivers dry saturated steam and not a carrier for boiler water.
- Dryness at the header
- In-boiler separators and a DRY separator ahead of distribution hold steam moisture to a fraction of a percent.
- Feedwater conditioning
- Softening and deaeration with DEGAS remove hardness and dissolved oxygen, the causes of scale and pitting.
- Hygienic materials
- On request, pumps, valves and fittings are supplied in stainless steel, with lines that can be drained and cleaned.
- Documented operation
- Records of pressure, temperature and blowdown support your HACCP file and show that a schedule was held.
Choosing equipment across the range
For steam, RAPID generators cover small and cyclic loads, coming up to working pressure in minutes. PILLAR suits a single line or small dairy; HERO and TOR cover bakeries, meat plants, canneries and distilleries with continuous demand; TRIPASS and PULSE serve large sites; MIRA X fits the largest works, including sugar plants with their own generation.
Where heat is needed above practical steam parameters but without high pressure, MAGMA and CRUX thermal oil boilers heat organic fluid at effectively atmospheric system pressure: surface temperature is even, with no hot spots to scorch seed, nuts, glaze or fishmeal. CORE, SLIM, CORE DUO, TRINITY, MEGA and BASE cover CIP water, sanitation and heating, QUANT to EON supply superheated water, and ZEPHYR, KENO, LUMO, ROCK, MODUL and GUST air heaters serve dryers and ventilation. PHOENIX and ECHO recover exhaust heat; CONTROL, ECO, BOOST, DEGAS, DRY, BUFFER, STORE and EXPAND complete the plant.
Parameters and operating ranges
- Steam
- RAPID to 8000 kg/h at 12 bar, PILLAR to 500 kg/h, HERO to 5000 kg/h at 15 bar, TOR to 3000 kg/h, TRIPASS to 16000 kg/h at 15 bar, MIRA X to 154 MW at 45 bar.
- Thermal oil
- MAGMA to 10 MW and CRUX to 10 MW, both to 300 °C, holding frying and roasting curves within a degree or two.
- Hot and superheated water
- CORE to 6000 kW at 6 bar and 115 °C, MEGA to 50 MW at 16 bar and 115 °C, QUANTUM to 170 °C, EON to 180 °C.
- Hot air
- LUMO to 400 kW, ZEPHYR to 1200 kW, GUST to 2000 kW, KENO to 2500 kW, MODUL to 6000 kW for chambers and drums.
- Efficiency and fuel
- Up to 94–96% with an economiser; combined burners let mills and sugar plants fire their own residues.
Reliability, water treatment and telemetry
Service life comes from water chemistry, load control and planned maintenance. Feedwater treatment is designed with the boiler, blowdown is set from measured water quality, and condensate is returned as far as hygiene rules allow. Staged warm-up avoids the pressure steps that upset pasteurisation.
CONTROL manages burner, pumps and interlocks, sequences boilers and holds pressure through load steps. Digital Twin telemetry shows pressure, temperature, fuel use and fault codes to you and our service engineers, so a burner fault or drifting water quality is dealt with before it stops production. Boilers are built to EN 12952 and EN 12953 with PED 2014/68/EU conformity under an ISO 9001 quality system.
How we work through your project
- Process data
- Consumer list with loads, pressure and temperature, simultaneity by shift, seasonal profile, fuel and water analysis.
- Balance and selection
- Thermal balance, sizing of boilers and components, comparison of steam, thermal oil, water and air schemes.
- Hygiene and documents
- Materials, layout for drainage and cleaning, recorded parameters for your HACCP file, layouts and flue data.
- Manufacture and testing
- Works testing of the pressure part and packaged units, with the document set for the plant as supplied.
- Commissioning and support
- Burner setting, control tuning to your load profile, operator training, telemetry and planned maintenance.