Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Steam boilers used in food processing plants (for blanching, pasteurization, and sterilization) are classified as either fire-tube or water-tube boilers based on the relative path of the water and hot combustion gases.
Step 2: Detailed Explation:
1. Fire-Tube Boilers: In these systems, hot combustion gases pass through tubes that are submerged in water inside the boiler shell.
Heat is transferred through the tube walls to the surrounding water.
These boilers are generally used for low-to-medium pressure applications.
The Locomotive boiler is a classic example of an interlly fired, multi-tubular, horizontal fire-tube boiler designed to generate steam rapidly.
Other examples of fire-tube boilers include Cochran, Lancashire, and Cornish boilers.
2. Water-Tube Boilers: In these systems, water flows inside the tubes while the hot combustion gases flow around the outside of the tubes.
These boilers can safely generate steam at much higher pressures.
Babcock and Wilcox, Benson, and Stirling boilers are all classified as water-tube boilers.
Step 3: Fil Answer
Thus, the Locomotive boiler is a fire-tube boiler.