Standard Operating Procedure

Heating Corn Syrup Rail Tankers

Authorized Personnel Trained Personnel
Type of Work
X Production
□ Quality

□ Sanitation

□ Maintenance

□ Safety

When to do this This needs to be done to every Rail tanker on as needed basis
Check off PPE Needed

X X X
Tools Needed Seal cutters, wrench and rubber mallet if needed
Chemicals Needed None
Quality Concerns Compromising the food safety and food quality of product
Safety Concerns Injuries. Burns with Steam. Fall from tanker.
LOTO Needed None
People to Notify of Work Notify shift coach of any issues
Why This Is Important: Corn syrup needs to be heated
up to be able to unload product from rail tankers into
tanker trailers.

What We Do: We use steam to heat up corn syrup rail

tankers.

What Can Go Wrong: technician performing activities

can be severely injured if this SOP is not followed every
step of the way. Over heating rail tankers will cause
product to burn or change in color.

FLOW CHART
 Once rail tanker has been
received in and was inspected/
approved per company
procedure. You may proceed
with this SOP.

Step 1. Cut top and bottom

seals.

Top Rail Tanker seal needs to be cut and Using seal cutting tool proceed to cut seals Bottom Rail Tanker seal needs to be cut and
disposed of disposed of

Note: Step 2 is a VERY IMPORTANT step you

need to open the breather cap of Rail Tanker to
allow tanker to breath during heating process. You
do not want Rail Tanker to pressurize during
heating process is very DANGEROUS.
 Step 2. Use wrench to open top
breather cap of rail tanker.

Breather Cap

Breather cap located on top of Rail Tanker Open breather cap using wrench Breather cap needs to be off before starting
heating process

Step 3. Locate steam coil lines

at the bottom of rail tanker. Rail
Tankers will have lines labeled.

Example of Inlet and Outlet label that Rail Tankers will have
for steam heating coils
 Note: Steam heating coils can be
mislabeled on rail tanker. Here is a
reference point. Inlet heating coil has
one tube as your connection point.
Outlet heating coil has 2 tubes joined to Step 4. Identify your inlet and
one connection point. outlet connections for the steam
coils. Product will not heat up if
inlet and outlet points are not
identified correctly.

Inlet (one tube one connection point)

Outlet (two tubes joined to one
connection point)
 Step 5. Use 2 inch steam
connector fittings on inlet and
outlet ports of heating coils on
rail tankers and secure them in
place using a wrench

Inlet
Outlet

2" fittings

Place one connector fitting per connection point be careful This is how the fittings will look like after being installed
not to strip tread. Do not force it.
 Step 6. Connect 2 inch steam
hoses to Inlet and Outlet
heating coils of rail tanker.

Install hose and secure it, to cam lock fitting This is how the hoses will look once secured
 Step 7. Verify that other end of
hose is secured to steam feed
line. Each station has its own
steam inlet line and outlet
condensation return.

Verify inlet hose is secure to steam feed line

 Step 8. Locate corn syrup screen
panel. Screen is a touch screen. Corn
syrup screen panel will have stations
1-3, station zero is not included is
more of a manual process than
automated.

Station zero is o not on the panel. Station zero is set manually.

 Step 9. Locate desired station
from stations 1-3 to be able to
use automated system. For this
example I will use station 3.

This window will appear

PID Auto
Press this PID option
 Step 10. On new window press
the green button labeled as PID
Auto to be able to change to
Manual mode.

Press the operator button

PID Manual

The operator button is pressed to be able to make changes to the steam valve.
 Step 11. Once operator button
was pressed you will be able to
manually open steam valve to
desired percentage.

Press the CV option

Enter desired %

Enter button

The CV option box will change from gray to white. This means Once the CV option was pressed you want to enter desired
that you can make a change to the set point. percentage as your set point. This will allow the valve to open
from 0-100%.
 Step 12. If station zero is the
station that you would like to
use heat up rail tankers. Do as
follows.

Steam valve for station 0 is in between rail Open steam valve on station 0 completely.
tracks 523 and 525. Valve needs to be open This valve comes straight from steam boiler
manually. and is not automated.
 Step 13. Go back to desired
station, train coils will start
making a bang noise don’t
worry this is normal steam is hot
and rail tanker is cold it will do
this until temperature stabilizes.

Step 14. Once at desired station

check outlet hose for air to be
purged out. Once water comes
out you may connect outlet hose
to condensation return line.

OPEN

Once hose starts purging water connect hose to line labeled as Verify that hose is secure to cam lock fitting. We recoup this
condensate return make sure the valve is in the open position. water to keep the steam boiler running.
 Step 15. Each station has its
own condensation return line
each line has a metal strainer.
Locate metal strainer.

Closed
Steam Trap
Strainer Nut

Closed
Strainer is located left side of steam trap. Close before and after valves.
 Step 16. Remove nut to be able
to clean strainer. Metal strainer
is cleaned on as needed basis. If
strainer is not cleaned as needed
it will not heat rail tankers
properly.

Using wrench remove strainer nut. Remove strainer nut using high temp gloves Remove strainer inside pipe and clean it.
provided to avoid burning your skin.
 Step 17. After cleaning the Note: Clean and sanitize thermometer before
metal strainer put everything each use we do not want to compromise the
back to its original place and quality of the product. Find SOP for
tighten nut to avoid hot water cleaning and sanitizing equipment and
injuries. Open valves back to utensils to properly perform the cleaning and
allow flow of condensate water. sanitizing of thermometer.

OPEN OPEN
Str
ain
er
an
dn
ut

Place metal strainer and tight strainer nut and open valves
 Step 18. Use clean sanitized
thermometer and check
temperature as needed. We want
to achieve a 100 F temp in the
summer and 110 F in the winter.
Temperature is checked on as
needed basis. Make note of
initial temp on your inspection

Remove long stem thermometer from sleeve. Insert long stem thermometer into rail tanker using
breather. Do this as needed to be able to achieve desired
temperatures
 Step 19. Once desired
temperature is achieved (100 F
summer or 110 F winter) if
using automated system go to
corn syrup panel and turn steam
to 0% on desired corn syrup
station and change settings back
to auto. If using station zero skip
to step 22.

CV option

Enter desired %
Press the PID option

Enter button

After pressing the PID option this window will pop up press the CV Pick 0 as your % and press the enter button for system to
option to change steam % to 0% or off. acknowledge change.
 Step 20. After performing step
19 steam valve will change from
green to red.

Closed OPEN

Steam valve will change from OPEN green to CLOSED red.

 Step 21. Change PID from PID
Manual to PID Auto.

Press the Program option

PID Auto
PID Manual

Press to PID Manual button to be able to change to Auto then press The screen will change from Manual to Auto.
Program option for system to acknowledge the change from manual
to auto.
 Step 22. If station zero is the
one being used just close the
manual valve to stop steam from
entering the rail tanker steam
coils.

Close steam valve on station 0 Steam valve on the closed position

 Step 23. Once steam is off allow
for lines to cool for about 20
minutes

Step 24. Once lines have cooled

for 20 minutes remove outlet
hose from the condensation
return line and allow all
condensation water in hose to
drain out.

Remove hose from condensation return Allow water to drain out of the hose
 Step 25. Once all water in
condensation return has drained
proceed to remove inlet and
outlet hoses from rail tanker
heating coils

Remove hoses from inlet and outlet connections to heating Leave 2 inch fittings secured to connection points
coils
Step 26. Do not remove 2 inch
fittings from rail tankers incase
they are needed later in the
process.

Step 27. Cap and put away

hoses in assigned area to avoid
any damages to hoses.

Step 28. This rail tanker is ready

to be moved to desired station to
recycle and or start unloading to
tanker trailers.