Boiler and Biomass News

Go Carbon Neutral with a Hurst Biomass Boiler System

Joanna Turpin  Engineered Systems Magazine  July 30, 2009   

"The government wanted to have one central location in the north that doesn't have to supply parts for 20 different kinds of boilers," said Fauteux. "This is a good move for their budget, because they can supply all the hospitals through one warehouse, because all the motors and drives are the same from place to place. There isn't a heavy budget for spare parts in each hospital."

Using the same boiler system at the different locations will also be easier for hospital personnel, who are having to adjust to using a computer to control the equipment. "They had to get used to this new technology. It won't bite. If necessary, all they have to do is shut down the boiler, and then they restart it. It's not that complicated. They really appreciate that now they can shut down the boiler from their home or office, or make corrections without going over there."

Neither hospital has been through a complete season, so a full energy assessment hasn't been made. However, Fauteux believes each facility is saving 40% to 45% in their energy costs, compared to what they were paying previously. And most importantly, the boilers passed the stringent emissions tests conducted by the government.

 

"They haven't decided which hospital we will work on next," said Fauteux, "but now that we have the boiler system down, each job will move a little faster."

Advantages of Wood Biomass Equipment

In a paper prepared for the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry Technology Marketing Unit, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, chemical engineer Richard Bergman and wood technologist John Zerbe outlined some of the benefits of using wood biomass equipment:

"Wood fuel has several environmental advantages compared with fossil fuels. Wood can be continually replenished, which leads to a sustainable and dependable supply. However, proper forest management must be practiced to ensure that growing conditions are not degraded during biomass production.

"There is little net production of carbon dioxide from wood combustion, because the C[O.sub.2] generated during combustion of wood equals the C[O.sub.2] consumed during the lifecycle of the tree. Transporting the material using petroleum generates excess C[O.sub.2].

"Wood fuel contains minimal heavy metals and extremely low levels of sulfur; wood fuel is no threat to acid rain pollution. Particulate emissions from wood are controllable through standard emission control devices such as bag houses, cyclone separators, and electronic precipitators. Bottom ash is minimal. Usually, wood ash is less than 1% of the weight of the wood, and sometimes ash may be used as a fertilizer.

"The principal economic advantage of wood-burning systems is that wood fuel is usually less expensive than competing fossil fuels. However, the price of wood for use as fuel can be extremely variable. Sometimes when surplus supplies of wood residues are available at nearby forest product manufacturing plants or municipal solid waste handling facilities, the cost can be very low or even negative. Transportation for delivering from the supply site to the wood combustion or wood processing unit is the primary expense of wood fuel.

"At other times, mostly dependent on location of the wood power facility, the cost of wood fuel can be quite high because large volumes of fuel are needed to have a dependable and consistent supply of wood fuel. Because the market for wood biomass energy may be uncertain or uncommon in a particular area, potential wood biomass users may want to do a brief, informal feasibility study before undertaking a rigorous economic analysis."

After over a decade, Turpin is wrapping up a long, successful tenure as contributing editor for ES.

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