January - March 2013
Biomass Boiler is a District 32 Success Story
By Amanda Layton- Perryville News
Despite a winter with numerous days of freezing temperatures, students at Perry County School District 32 enjoy toasty, warm classrooms courtesy of an innovative heat source.
This is the second heating season of a state-of-the-art biomass boiler system that been used to provide heat to a portion of the campus.
"We use it to heat the Old Senior High and the High School," said Perry County School District 32 Superintendent Kevin Dunn. "And it has been working out very well, just as we had anticipated."
In 2010, District 32 was one of seven public school districts that received funding for a new a boiler system that uses wood biomass as fuel.
The local school district received roughly $970,000 for the project, and of all seven grants awarded in the state of Missouri, Perry County received the largest amount of money, and was the largest school district to participate in the Fuels for Schools project - a cooperation between the Missouri Department of Conservation and the USDA Forest Service's State and Private Forestry program, that awarded nearly $6 million in grants to school districts in Missouri.
The grant was funded through The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
"Applying for that grant was a no-brainer," Dunn said. "The boiler in the Old Senior High was worn out and the estimated cost to replace it at that time was approaching $500,000, so the grant helped us out tremendously to fund a project we needed to do anyway."
Tucked behind the Old Senior High in a newly constructed red shed, is the boiler. It is a technological marvel. Through a complex conveyor system, the self-feeding machine burns roughly a tractor-trailer-load and a half of wood chips that are currently provided by local wood supplier East Perry Lumber Company approximately every 10 days during heating season.
The boiler burns the fuel, then heats water that is piped through a system in the school buildings to provide warmth.
Long-time District 32 maintenance supervisor Glen Brickhaus handles the upkeep and routine maintenance on the boiler. Dunn praised his efforts.
"Prior to getting the biomass burner at school, Glen had installed an outdoor wood burner at his own home, so he understands very well what we are accomplishing here," Dunn said. "He has done a great job keeping up with the burner."
The extraordinary thing about the biomass boiler is the efficiency at which it burns.
According to Dunn, the ashes left from the tractor trailer load and a half that is used to fuel the boiler is burned down to less than 30 gallons of ash that the school grounds workers then spread as fertilizer at different locations across the school campus.
"It is an incredible setup," Dunn said. "And we have been very pleased with the service and quality of product being provided by East Perry Lumber Company. Their customer service has been top notch."
Prior to the boilers installation, there were some in the community who expressed concerns about how it would affect air quality on the school's campus, and if that air quality would have a negative impact on the health of the children who attended the school. Dunn said the boiler burns so efficiently and clean that, now that it is up and running, they have had absolutely no negative comments or feedback.
In fact, the district went above and beyond what was required to meet state air quality standards. Dunn said in addition to the biomass boiler grant, District 32 applied for and received additional funding that provided an electrostatic precipitator that further cleans the air.
"We were already well above the EPA standards before installing the ESP, but the money was there to pay for one, and why not take it?" Dunn said. "We don't have a smell of wood smoke and anyone walking on to the campus doesn't even realize we are burning wood, which is incredible in and of itself, because when one house in a neighborhood is burning in a fire place, the whole area smells of wood smoke. Here, we are burning enough to heat two large buildings and there is no odor or substandard emission. There is no smoke coming from a chimney. The most a person may see on a very cold day is vapor rising from the stack."
The best thing about the boiler has been the cost savings the district has enjoyed.
"We didn't use it the full season last year," Dunn said. "We didn't fire it up until December, and we saved about $20,000 in fuel costs from the year before.
The engineers told us we would save between $25,000 and $30,000 annually, and I feel confident we will see that again this year."
Dunn said the district still relies on natural gas to run a second boiler located in the Senior High Building.
"The biomass boiler will help us extend the life of that boiler which was very new, and although we still have natural gas to fall back on in case of an emergency, we don't have to use it as frequently," he said.
Dunn said he has had many other districts comment that should the Fuels for Schools grant become available again they too would leap at the chance to participate.
"It was a great opportunity for our school," he said. "And it is good to serve as an example."