Boro Foundry redesign cuts ERF boiler downtime and saves £60,000 a year

Boro Foundry says a redesigned grate-bar system eliminated unplanned stoppages on one West Midlands energy recovery facility boiler during a seven-month trial. The project reduced maintenance disruption, cut downtime risk at a plant facing costly shutdowns, and created a closed-loop recycling process that saves about £60,000 a year.

Why it matters: - The redesign targets a failure point that can cost an energy recovery facility more than £100,000 each time an unplanned stoppage occurs. - The upgrade helped protect continuous power generation for thousands of homes by reducing downtime at a plant that runs at 800°C to 950°C. - The project also lowered annual costs through a recycled-material loop that saves an average of £60,000 a year.

What happened: - Boro Foundry completed a major reliability upgrade for an energy recovery facility in the West Midlands. - The project redesigned the facility’s critical boiler grate bar system rather than supplying direct OEM replacements. - A comparative trial ran from June to December 2025 on two boilers, with the redesigned system on one boiler and the legacy design on the other. - Boro Foundry said the test boiler had zero unplanned grate-bar stoppages during the trial.

The details: - The facility processes non-recyclable household waste to generate electricity. - Changing waste streams, including discarded nitrous oxide canisters that can explode, created shock loads that displaced and damaged existing grate bars. - Cooling, repairing and restarting an incinerator boiler takes more than two days. - Each unplanned stoppage can trigger lost operating time, repair costs and interrupted power generation. - The redesigned grate-bar system added extended interlocking ears to strengthen connections between neighboring components. - The new design used mechanical dowelling to secure grate bars against displacement while preserving thermal flexibility. - The maintenance-focused design simplified bar removal and was built to shorten emergency repairs and annual shutdowns. - The facility routinely replaces up to 40 tonnes of grate bars during maintenance shutdowns. - The legacy boiler suffered five stoppages during the trial period, which translated into an estimated 200 hours of avoided downtime for the upgraded unit.

Between the lines: - The project shows a shift from simple replacement parts to engineering around total lifecycle cost. - The collaborative design approach appears to matter as much as the casting itself, since the facility’s operating conditions are extreme and the waste stream is changing. - The closed-loop recycling arrangement also reduces dependence on traditional scrap merchants and tightens supply-chain control.

What's next: - Boro Foundry and the facility are continuing to use the recycled alloy stream to produce new castings. - The company says the approach can help protect critical infrastructure and reduce operational stress in heavy industry. - Boro Foundry directs readers to more information on its engineering solutions for heavy industry.