Avonmore Meats Angelery & Steam Boiler

Avonmore Meats (UK) Ltd at Harvils, Hawthorn, West Bromwich uses approximately 6,000 cubic metres of water weekly, processing lambs and pigs for both UK and overseas retail outlets.

Steam is raised via two B&E 3260 Kg per hour boilers. This is used to heat wash down water, which is required both in volume and at high temperature, via two Angelery heat exchangers.

To minimise overheads, water-softening equipment was dedicated exclusively to the boilers, but, despite the treatment, scale still quickly built-up. The Angelerys were subject to regular and frequent acid and manual cleaning. Annual maintenance costs, incurred for two monthly coil replacements for the Angelerys, boiler inspections etc, amounted to £7,299 per annum.

The first ENiGMA system was applied to the Angelerys only, conditioning the make-up and recirculating hot water. Avonmore Meats found the ensuing short-term results so impressive that when the base ion exchange unit failed, John Beaumont, the Engineering Manager, ordered further ENiGMA units as cost effective protection for the boilers. After 3 months operation, the boiler inspection showed scale was disappearing whilst the Angelerys were clean and operating at almost 100% efficiency.

Avonmore Meats anticipated a payback on the ENiGMA in 2 years, but has now revised that figure to around 12 months based on maintenance savings alone.

“Electronic Scale Control Technology is working better than we ever anticipated", said John Beaumont. "If it is still as effective when we inspect the boilers in August, we are considering installing the ENiGMA system onto other equipment including the cooling towers".