Biomass Boiler Addresses Alaskans’ Environmental, Economic Concerns http://www.discussanything.com/forums/showthread.php/158071-Jakarta-Capital-Environmental-Blog-Crown-Eco-Management Alaska, heavily forested, built on rock and surrounded by water, every commodity that enters the country arrives by air and sea. The use of oil is a struggle for both the economy and the environment. Original Article http://crowncapitalmngt.com/blogpdf/Biomass_Boiler_Addresses_Alaskans.pdf

1. Biomass Boiler Addresses Alaskans’ Environmental,
Economic Concerns
Visit original article:
http://crowncapitalmngt.com/blogpdf/Biomass_Boiler_Addresses_Alaskans.pdf

2. The Biomass Boiler that powers the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.
Photo By Michele Parker, Environmental Engineer, Tongass National Forest

3. Alaska, heavily forested, built on rock and surrounded by
water, every commodity that enters the country arrives by air and sea. The
use of oil is a struggle for both the economy and the environment.
Oil must come from elsewhere and be transported but of course by
additional fuel, fuel that is subject to oil price stability.
A site that could help giving a solution to the problem is the
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan. The site that provides
information to more than a million visitors each year is also the site where a
pilot biomass system is now coming to life. A two oil-fired boilers serving the
250,000-sq-ft center were replaced with a highly efficient system fueled by
local wood was manufactured by Hurst Boiler & welding Company Inc.
Another good thing about the project is that the hot-water boiler was
custom-designed to fit within very limited indoor space.

4. To address concerns towards issues related to building space, fuel
costs, comfort, reliability, simplicity of operation more especially
environmental concerns, the biomass boiler system was developed by Hurst
representative Gregory W. Smith of Global Energy Solutions Inc. under the
direction of E. Dane Ash, project manager for Tyonek-Alcan Pacific LLC.The
excessive use of fossil fuels has been long a problem in any point of the world
more especially to Alaska, the boiler system was intended to highlight how
biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. The Hurst S100 Series
Fire Tube 27 HP Hydronic Water Heating Boiler features a pre-heater to
optimize combustion and an underfeed stoker with dry-ash-removal system.
The new boiler requires heating for a minimum of nine months a year; it is
located at lower level of the Discovery Center. To protect form extreme
moisture the local wood densified into fuel pucks is delivered to an elevated
walking-floor storage bin in a vestibule area that is designed especially for the
woods. It is important to protect the woods because the biomass-fired boiler
can burn any wood product with up to 50-percent moisture content. Not to
worry, freezing is not an issue because the walking floor easily breaks up any
frozen contents.

5. Many benefits come along with the use of this biomass boiler, the
country saved as much as two-thirds of the fuel costs. There is almost no
residual ash when densified pucks are used. But, tree clippings from the
Ketchikan walking trails will be ground and fed into the boiler, eliminating the
need for transport to a landfill, burning, and other methods of disposal. The
system easily can be replicated for heat or heat/power generation up to
20,000 kw.
Systems that were improved by the new technology include
municipal solid waste, as well as woody biomass for steam production and
steam to power. In June 2011, Smith was a keynote speaker for the fifth
annual Native American Economic Development Conference in Anaheim,
California, he proudly flaunted the initiatives being implemented in Ketchikan
and shared success stories of biomass-fired boiler systems installed on
institutional campuses and in manufacturing facilities throughout the United
States, particularly in challenging and remote locations.
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