{"id":61,"date":"2018-02-07T23:01:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T23:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/joules2dollars\/?page_id=61"},"modified":"2018-02-16T17:44:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T17:44:18","slug":"biomass-plant","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/joules2dollars\/biomass-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Colby Biomass Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fact Sheet<\/a>
\nInformation Slides<\/a>
\nProf. King describes how it works (video<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take-Aways<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> There were a few things that I took away from this lab. First, I applaud the people who work tirelessly at the biomass pla\"\"<\/a>nt 24\/7\/365. They are the real heroes of this campus by ensuring that Colby has enough renewable energy to supply the campus with the services that are taken for granted everyday.<\/p>\n

Second, I was amazed at the scale of turndown needed between the school year and the summer months, and how the two systems versus one giant system makes this process much more seamless and efficient.<\/p>\n

Something that we learned in today’s lab that surprised me the most was that the ash waste gets taken to an organic farm out in Sidney, where it’s used as a dressing for crops. I am amazed at how all-encompassing this entire process really is, and at Colby’s commitment to investing locally.<\/p>\n

CG:<\/strong>\u00a0 Before I signed up for Joules to Dollars I was not even aware that Colby had a biomass plant nestled near the athletic center. The biomass building had been nothing more than a building with a large glass window that exposed the strange machinery contained inside.<\/p>\n

The lab began with us gathering inside the plant. We stood on a platform that\"\"<\/a> overlooked the wood chips the plant uses to create steam for campus. The room is able to hold 300 tons of wood chips. Two of the men who run the plant, Paul and Gus, were introduced to us. They explained some of the logistics of the wood chips: amount, location, purpose and then led us into the boiler room.<\/p>\n

The boiler room contains two 400 horsepower boilers. Colby boils 25,000 pounds of water every hour and only 6% of the steam generated is lost in the process. The tour continued into the other half of the plant which contained natural gas.<\/p>\n

Numbers were presented to us during and following the tour that further re-affirmed how efficient and cost-saving clean energy is. You hear a lot about clean energy but it is quite another thing to see how it is produced. The intimacy of the tour was not lost on me either. I was being shown how the hot water that I use every day was made by the two of the biomass plant men who work to make sure that we stay warm.<\/p>\n

KL-O:\u00a0<\/strong> The tour of Colby\u2019s biomass plant was enlightening and enjoyable. We began with the process of the trucks dropping off wood chips all the way through the steam returning to the economizer to restart the process \"\"<\/a>of reheating. The school burns about 65 tons of woodchips per day! That seems like a large number of trees that we have promised to plant, so I can understand why this decision must be considered as a long run economic deal.<\/p>\n

In terms of steam, the plant boils 25,000 lbs of water\/hour, or 25,000 lbs of steam. This generates about 25-30% of our total energy output at each moment, but only 10% of our annual electricity. These new boilers are extremely efficient, with about a 20:1 turndown ratio. This provides an efficient way to turn down our energy output when the load is low. The natural gas boilers only have an 8:1 turndown ratio. One incredible engineering feat that we can take advantage of is that the transition from gas to liquid creates a vacuum in the steel pipes. As the pressure of steam rises, there is no need for work to send steam out of the plant. However, it does take work to pump the steam back into the facility. There is about a 94% efficiency return on the steam being pumped back in! It would be interesting to try to fix the leaks or find where the energy is being lost in order to maximize efficiency. This could yield massive economic and energy gains over decades.<\/p>\n

After the tour, we discussed the economic reasoning behind Colby\u2019s decision to build the plant. One reason is that there is a 30% federal tax credit on solar energy. This institution is a nonprofit, so it cannot capitalize on the tax credits. Therefore, we purchase energy from a company that owns the nearby solar panels and our own costs are therefore lowered. There is an interesting social justice aspect to renewable energy credits, which gives more privilege to consumers that can afford the renewable energy and receive the credits. Community energy grids would be a practical way to allow many consumers to benefit from renewable energy, by removing some of the economic barriers from people with lower purchasing power.<\/p>\n

PR:<\/strong> This was my 3rd time visiting the Biomass Plant at Colby in my two years at Colby. Previously I learned about the design and mechanics of the building, but this tour was a bit different as I got to hear about the economics involved in the functioning of the plant. I found the economics to be particularly interesting. For example, I learned that 25,000 thousand pounds of water are boiled an hour to generate our campus’s electricity. Also the plant uses 300 tons of woods chips, requiring 10 trucks and 30 tons of wood chips per truck. This mean 2 to 3 trucks show up to Colby’s Biomass Plant on a daily basis and as a result between 50 and 90 tons of wood chips are burned per day. Also the plant has minimal employment, requiring one employee to work the plant at night and two employees to work the plant during the day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another takeaway I had was the fact that Colby’s Biomass Plant operates on two systems instead of one. When building the plant it was decided to install 2 boilers instead of one in order capitalize on the system’s efficiency. Instead of running one boiler at maximum capacity, Colby runs two boilers at a lower total energy input. The operation of two 50% capacity systems is ideal because it makes sure the campus will still have an energy source in the situation where one of the systems fail. At the same time it saves money because both the systems are only operating on half of their capacity anyway. The biggest takeaway I had from the Biomass Plant was the efficiency of the whole operation.<\/p>\n

CZ:\u00a0<\/strong> In our lab today we paid a visit to the Colby biomass plant, which actually is composed of two parts, the biomass plant and the existing plant which has boilers that boil gas like propane. The biomass plant is the major facility that provides steam to the campus for our shower water, kitchen around campus and some of the steam also goes to ESP to produce electricity.<\/p>\n

As the demand of electricity and heat around campus is pretty high, the biomass plant burns around 300 tons of chip daily and produces around 25000 pounds of steam per hour. The design of the plant is very well-planned as there is air-dry at the stock-pile where they keep the chips dry. The plant use gasifier to produce energy and there is air-locks and different pipelines so the oxygen level in the burner will not be too high and the waste will go on different pipes as the steam.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One thing I had not learned before in my previous trips to the plant is the steam transportation system. It is pretty interesting to learn that the steam can motivate itself to the other end of the campus and 94% of the steam actually can be recycled in some way so the energy will not be wasted. It is always interesting to learn how efforts are taken to conserve energy around campus.<\/p>\n

CC:<\/strong>\u00a0 The main part of the lab today was the visit to the biomass plant. Today I learnt much more about the energy needs of the campus and how we supply both heat and electricity to the campus.\u00a0 We consume about 50-90 tons of wood chips a day, which is a large amount of trees. I haven\u2019t really thought about the scale of the power we use before and knowing how much is used really opened my eyes. The approximate amount of water going through the system in an hour is 25000lb of water, and there\u2019s about a 5% loss of the water from various leaks of steam. That\u2019s a large amount of water leaking out. I\u2019m not sure about Colby\u2019s current water consumption on a yearly basis, so I\u2019m unsure about the impact this has on our water consumption. Coming from a water scarce country, water is very precious so that strikes me as an important question.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another interesting point was that the huge difference in price between renewable energy credits depending on how where they\u2019re from. This could be another avenue that\u2019s considered when deciding on the feasibility of a solar facility. However it appears to be propped up by government legislation right now, so that should not be a significant factor in the payback period.<\/p>\n

ZK:<\/strong>\u00a0 This afternoon, the class traveled to Colby\u2019s biomass plant.\u00a0 We attended a tour of the plant, which explained the timeline and overview of the project.\u00a0 Additionally, we learned how the biomass machines work together to create a functional system.\u00a0 I found it extremely interesting to see the connections across multiple disciplines, and how they all play a crucial role in determining the sustainability of this project.\u00a0 Not only does the design of the plant intergrate the old and new plant, but also its creation steamed from economic, social, chemical, and environmental analyses.\u00a0 Prior to this visit, my knowledge of the project was limited.<\/p>\n

When I first toured Colby over four years ago, I remember posters plastered around Colby\u2019s campus and the Colby website claiming the college as a carbon neutral campus.\u00a0 However, I never truly understand what this statement meant, nor the process for Colby to attain carbon neutrality.\u00a0 Although I was surprised to learn that Colby is not quite carbon neutral, I am extremely impressed this project greatly reduced the carbon out, creating a carbon lean environment.\u00a0 The return rate of resources is 94% of the total products.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am fascinated to discover that Colby College was not the first, nor the last to try this method for obtaining an alternative sustainable fuel source.\u00a0 In comparison to Middlebury, Colby\u2019s decision to use a slightly different method for acquiring energy is a strong reflection of the college\u2019s innovative mindset and aspirations to seek better solutions.\u00a0 Unlike Middlebury\u2019s biomass plant, which uses only one biomass gasifier at 800 BHP, Colby decided to use two gasifiers that were coupled to two fire-tube boilers, each running 400 BHP at 300 psig.\u00a0 While this choice was slightly more expensive in the short-term, the long-term gains prove to be significantly higher.\u00a0 Additionally, Colby decided to reduce its window dimensions as well as use drying chips instead of pellets.\u00a0 While this may seem unimportant, I was fascinated to learn drying chips are actually much more cost effective and require less energy to obtain.\u00a0 Because drying chips can be attained from locally sourced forest waste, they do not require the additional manufacturing that pellets need.<\/p>\n

While there are a number of other points I found quite interesting, I am going to end this entry with our discussion on future steps.\u00a0 Colby, like I previously stated, is the forefront of innovation and technological advancement.\u00a0 Not only does the school focus on reducing unnecessary costs, but it also makes an effort to support local businesses and improve its ecological footprint.\u00a0 This proves to be a significant step Colby has made in redistributing its consumption of energy through steam.\u00a0 However, many more projects are still on the horizon.\u00a0 I am extremely interested to learn more about the role wind power plays, and the cost\/benefit analysis of using this alternative energy resource.<\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 <\/strong>On Mayflower Hill, positioned between construction for the new athletic center and the current athletic center lies, arguably, the most important building to Colby\u2019s campus. Without Colby\u2019s biomass plant, the institution would be shelling out an additional 9,500 tons of carbon and $1.5 million annually. After touring the plant, there were some key points that stood out to me. The first thing is that the plant accounts for 90%+ of campus wide energy. This proves to be super important because it means that Colby\u2019s campus is essentially self-sufficient. That explained why, when so many surrounding areas lose power, Colby maintains power and is able to stay up and running, an important aspect to staying on the cutting edge of education; in the midst of situations that would typically shut down campus, we are able to last through with no problem because of the work of the biomass facility.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Secondly, something I found to be really important was the amount of work that went into the facility much before it was put online. Colby did a lot of research and toured other facilities in order to learn from others\u2019 mistakes and determine the most efficient and cost-effective decision to make. After touring a few other facilities, specifically the plant at Middlebury College, Colby was able to make some important choices that improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the Colby biomass facility. Those decisions created a facility that takes chips and not pellets, that has a gasifier instead of stoker, and that has two smaller broilers instead one big one.<\/p>\n

Something that surprised me was the details surrounding the fuel supply. Through the choice of chips instead of pellets, Colby decided to only support sustainable foresting practices within a 50-60 mile radius of campus. Additionally, the plant uses whole tree and bole chips which means the lower grade wood, which otherwise would be left in the forest to decompose, comes to Colby and is utilized as fuel. This form of fuel is only around $40 a ton, in comparison to pellets which is around $200 a ton. That proves to be an important difference when 50-70 tons of fuel is trucked in a day.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Colby Biomass facility is a very important part to Colby\u2019s ability to claim carbon neutrality, be economically strategic, and provide for its students.<\/p>\n

LG:<\/strong> After visiting Colby\u2019s biomass plant, I learned a lot about Colby\u2019s main source of energy and how it functions. Ever since Colby made the transition from a high-pressure steam plant that had existed since 1992 to the biomass plant in 2012, they have been supplying cleaner energy to the school while reaping many economic benefits. The renovation has helped the school provide a more efficient source of energy and move closer to real carbon neutrality.<\/p>\n

Prior to the biomass plant, the high-pressure steam plant produced its energy using No. 6 Fuel Oil entirely (100%).\u00a0 As a result, the plant required an intake of 1.1 million gallons of No. 6 Fuel Oil a year whereas the biomass plant only 100,000 gallons of No. 6 Fuel Oil a year. Additionally, the oil is mostly only used for back up while the wood chips account for over 90% of the energy source. The biomass plant uses over 22,000 tons of wood chips a year, which costs about a million dollars less than the No.6 Fuel Oil bought for the high-pressure steam plant. Beyond the impressive efficiency, I found it interesting that only one factory worker is necessary to run the entire plant. The positive environmental impacts are also evident; the biomass plant reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 13,700 tons as year.<\/p>\n

Although it has only been about five years since the biomass plant became the school\u2019s main energy source, it has proven to be worth the complicated, expensive, and impressive integration with the previous system. The project had a total cost of 11.25 million dollars but will likely be paid off in about 10 years by saving around 1.5 million dollars a year. There were a few other facts about the biomass plant that stood out to me. The plant uses their water efficiently and about 94% of the water that is sent out returns to the plant. Also, the biomass plant can hold up to 300 tons of wood chips, which lasts about 3 to 4 days. Each truck delivers 25 to 30 tons of wood chips and there are 2 to 3 truck deliveries a day, so the plant receives 60 to 75 tons of wood chips a day. Furthermore, the wood chips are produced from the parts of trees that would normally be wasted, such as the tops and branches. These large numbers are important because all the wood chips are purchased from logging companies and forests within 50 miles of campus. As a result, the biomass plant not only produces economic benefits for Colby but also for the region around the school.<\/p>\n

PS:<\/strong> Since the start of orientation two autumns ago, I have heard scattered talk of steam, neutrality, and biomass around campus. But it wasn\u2019t until a semester of walking past the unremarkable gray building to and from the athletic center had passed that the biomass plant began to capture more of my attention, especially as the windows glowed red and yellow at night. Over a year later, today I finally stepped inside the quietly grey box of building to find a whirring, lively ensemble within.<\/p>\n

I was initially struck by the size of the holding bin for the wood chips. As I was listening to the numbers, I began to try to mentally map out the life cycle of a wood chip destined for a biomass plant. I was chipping away at trees in my head, tracing their route to Colby\u2019s campus\u2013which is always within a 60 mile radius. We receive the chips in 30 ton truck loads, up to 4 times a day, and keep up to 300 tons of wood chips in the holding bin\u2013which is only enough to satisfy our demand for 3 to 5 days. I assumed that the length of this process (from fallen tree to energy) would be somewhere around a month, but Gus maintained that there were times where a tree was chipped, transported, and burned all in the span of a week. I also found myself comparing the chipping system to a pellet stove, which is one way my family heats our house during the winters. From my experience, pellets wouldn\u2019t have needed such an advanced size\/shape detection system like the wood chips went through, but the cost of the compressed pellet seemed contrary to the biomass\u2019 eventual mission of high sustainability.<\/p>\n

I was also especially fascinated by the steam turbine. Because of the way the turbine energized differences in pressure, Gus explained, \u201cthe colder it is the higher the energy production\u201d. This was an important statement; usually we associate higher levels of heat with higher levels of energy, but in this case we are more interested in temperature\u2019s effect on pressure (low T \u2192 higher difference in P). The initial adoption of the steam turbine engine is also a manifestation of the identity of the facility. Gus explained that too many campuses reduce their facilities to a \u201cheating plant\u201d when approaching a reengineering of their energy systems, when really it is more productive to consider them as full-fledged \u201cpower plants\u201d. After all, that quiet grey box of a building saves $1,300,000 to $1,400,000 on energy costs annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fact Sheet Information Slides Prof. King describes how it works (video)   Take-Aways JS: There were a few things that I took away from this lab. First, I applaud the people who work tirelessly at the biomass plant 24\/7\/365. They are the real heroes of this campus by ensuring that Colby has enough renewable energy … <\/p>\n

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