Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Boiler Plant Upgrade

Chicago, IL

Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, exterior

Overview

The hospital’s central boiler plant consisted of three large water-tube boilers that provided high pressure (100 psig) steam for heating, cooling (through steam-absorption chillers), humidification, and process loads (sterilizers, kitchen). This project replaced one boiler and retrofitted the burners on the remaining two boilers to improve the plant’s reliability and operating efficiency.

Awards

ASHRAE Illinois, Excellence in Engineering Award, 2006

Boiler Plant Upgrade, Design

  • Boiler B-3 was replaced with a new four-pass, 15,000 lb/hr, high-efficiency water-tube boiler.
  • The new burners on all three boilers have a high turndown ratio (10:1) and oxygen trim control to maximize combustion efficiency, minimize energy consumption, and reduce carbon emissions.
  • All three new burners are the low-NOx type, sharply reducing nitrogen-oxide emissions.
  • The upgraded boiler plant has a new computerized burner management system and can be remotely monitored from the hospital’s building automation system.
  • All three boilers have new automatic surface blowdown controls that reduce chemicals used for boiler water treatment (and corresponding energy losses) and reduce the amount of water used for boiler make-up.

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