Kellogg’s Eggo Plant Drain Replacement Design

Millennium Mechanical served as lead in designing new process waste main headers at the Kellogg’s Eggo Plant in San Jose, California. The plant operates 24/7 with only routine cleaning cycle shutdowns and a few extended maintenance shutdowns a year. The length of these shutdowns was not long enough to replace 1000 ft of 6” to 8” lines by traditional methods. Secondly, high hygiene install procedures were required. This meant once work started the pipeline area, as well as the transit routes for materials, men and debris, had to be segregated from production.

The method of pipe install would determine much of the specialized hygiene procedures and project timetable. Normal excavate and remove is good for lots of laterals but generates lots of unsanitary debris and is a lengthy process. Several trenchless methods were available, but laterals still needed to be excavated. Slipform liners have limited life and require access to trim the liner at the laterals, and the manholes must be installed for pulling liners. Manholes inside food plants are unacceptable. Horizontal directional drilling and micro-tunnelling in virgin soil in new locations still need lateral connections. Furthermore, the boring equipment was to large and gas powered which where not was not feasible in a food-grade environment.

After reviewing the options in each location, duration of operations in each area, transit of materials and other hygiene procedures, a combination pipe bursting and traditional excavate/replace was selected. Therma and Millennium Mechanical sequenced the worked to not interrupt production by establishing key milestones to be achieved on the limited shutdowns. Custom enclosures and segregation walls were installed. Each area of work was quarantined as specific hygiene procedures for the tools, equipment, personnel and the building were compiled before returning to production. The project took 14 weeks and was done at budget with no interruption to production. Pipe bursting proved to be cost effective and hygienic.